Bat Tales: NERV's Belfry
by Andrew Joshua Talon
Summary: How much trouble could one little bat be? To Shinji Ikari, it allowed him to bring a fictional hero to life and change the fate of humanity. Way to go, doofus... Fusion with Batman.
1. Uno

**Super revised chapter 1!

* * *

**

2006

Shinji Ikari, age six, whimpered shakily. His uncle and aunt laid at his feet. Above him, two large men towered in the dark, destroyed living room.

"What about the kid?" The first asked.

"What about 'im? He's just a kid. C'mon," the thug ordered, turning and exiting into the night. His partner, after staring a bit longer at the six-year old, turned and flew as well.

"… Uncle… Auntie," the child whispered, on his knees. The blood of his guardians, the ones who had taken him in and given him a home when his own father had abandoned him… Taken from him. Just for their money. By a pair of men with guns.

The boy's blue eyes, filled with sorrow before this night, welled up in furious tears.

"I'll… I'll stop them," he whispered, his tiny fingers gripping the locks of his aunt's long hair. "I'll… Make them pay… I'll get them all… All of them…"

Outside in the night, a small brown bat flapped around, before settling on an eave of the house. It cocked its head, almost curiously, at the small boy weeping within. It had wandered into the house by accident, and the young human had screamed as they collided. The bat was disoriented, its sonar useless in the close confines, and flapped about the shrieking human until the older ones had driven it off. The bat had fled, down the stairs, the older female human pulling open the front door and shooing it out.

The bat did not understand why the two larger humans had been pleasantly surprised to find the door open. The bat could not comprehend why the little boy broke down into sobs upon spotting it again. The bat did not appreciate such human matters-They were not of the night, and thus things of little consequence.

The bat departed the silent home and flew back into its dark realm, joining a swarm of it's brothers and sisters as they flew out into the night. All the while, a young boy watched and continued to cry for his lost guardians…

* * *

Yuna Noriyasu looked up from her reading in the corner of her living room, seeing her new ward, Shinji, walking silently on the simple wooden floor. The little boy had barely said anything since he was sent here. Noriyasu was no psychologist (her field of expertise was chemistry, actually), but seeing your guardians gunned down in front of you had to be horrifying. And certainly nothing you could recover from in two weeks.

"Shinji-kun?"

The little boy looked over at his new guardian, his large, blue eyes filled with such terrible lonliness. She shivered, and stood up, her book left on the arm of her chair as she took young Shinji in a hug.

"Hey, hey… It's okay. Allright? It's okay…"

"It was my fault," Shinji mumbled into her shoulder. "It was… It was my fault!" Noriyasu held out Shinji, looking at him with compassion.

"It wasn't your fault, Shinji. There was nothing… nothing you could have done, allright? Nothing." The little boy sniffled, before burying his face in her shoulder once more.

"I hate them… I hate them!" He growled out, muffled by cotton and flesh. "I wish they were dead!" Yuna pulled him closer, rocking the little boy back and forth while murmuring soothing words.

But Yuna could tell that the anger, the rage, and the guilt were not going to go away. Not on their own, at least.

The young woman smiled slightly, still cradling the young Ikari against her breast.

"Shinji… How would you like to go for a visit?" Shinji looked up at Yuna, still sniffling slightly.

"A visit?" He asked. Yuna nodded.

"Yes. My aunt lives nearby. She's a wonderful woman, with all sorts of neat things in her house. It's like a museum." Shinji blinked thoughtfully.

"Like… Like what?"

"All kinds of things! Swords, statues, pictures," Yuna's smile grew as a spark of interest appeared in Shinji's eyes. "Would you like to go?"

"… Sure," Shinji said quietly, before blushing and averting his eyes. "Thank you, Yuna-san."

"Not a problem."

* * *

Cassandra Cain, Yuna's aunt, was half-American, half-Japanese, and lived by herself in a nicely furnished but isolated old-style home in a wood near Fuyuoka Prefecture. Shinji couldn't help but stare at the imposing stone guardians standing at either side of the entrance, and the long tunnel of Shinto-shrines enclosing the walk up to the main house. Yuna smiled brightly as the image of a tall, elegantly-dressed woman appeared on the front porch of the home, her long silver hair blowing out behind her dramatically. Shinji hid behind Yuna.

"Yuna! It's lovely to see you. You've grown so much," Cassandra spoke brightly, her smile serene and glowing. "And this must be Shinji." The older woman stepped forward, still smiling, even as Shinji continued to hide behind Yuna.

"He's a bit shy, Aunt Cassandra," Yuna explained. She gently tugged Shinji out from behind her, letting Cassandra look him over with a slightly imperious air. Shinji looked up and stared back defiantly, his nervousness transforming into indignation.

"My, aren't you fierce looking," Cassandra observed with a small smile. Yuna giggled a bit, but Shinji seemed to understand that the older woman was not patronizing him. Momentarily puzzled, he held Cassandra's gaze.

"But where are my manners? Please come in, I have drinks for you in the sitting room," Cassandra spoke. Shinji still held her gaze, even as they entered the house. The older woman could sense something about the little boy, something… Primal. As she poured the cool flavored water into the glasses and brought them to her guests, she discretely dialed her cell phone and sent a message.

Yuna's cell phone rang moments later, and she answered it.

"Yes? Oh… Um, I suppose. Yes… You need me right now? Are you sure? But I… Yes. Allright," Yuna sighed, closing her phone and looking mournfully at her aunt.

"Something wrong?" Cassandra asked nonchalantly.

"The office needs a total analysis done on this product this high-powered company just sent us," Yuna explained. "It could be a big break for us. But Shinji…?" Yuna turned to her ward, who was still staring at Cassandra. Yuna's aunt smiled kindly.

"Yuna, really. If you're needed, I'm sure I can watch Shinji for a few hours." Yuna started.

"Oh no, really! I wouldn't want to be a bother…"

"Nonsense. It does get very lonely in this house, and I would enjoy the company," Cassandra smiled, taking a sip of her glass. "It's not a problem, right Shinji?"

The little boy looked up at Cassandra and shook his head cautiously. Yuna turned to Shinji and sighed.

"Well, I'm sorry about this Shinji. Don't worry, I'll be back as soon as I can, okay?" Shinji nodded dully. Yuna gave him a hug, and headed out the door. The moment she was gone, Shinji shot Cassandra a glare.

"You made her go." Cassandra Cain was not a woman easily surprised. She was also not a woman to easily show it, so she merely took another sip of her lemonade and regarded Shinji thoughtfully.

"You're very observant." The little boy shrugged.

"I guess…" Cassandra stood, and turned away, walking into another room of the house. Shinji got up and followed.

"When I was about your age," Cassandra began, turning down a hallway as Shinji continued to trail her. "My father was an officer with the United States Army, based in Osaka. A local Yakuza crime boss, Yoshi Hiruga, wanted him to push drugs in the barracks. My father refused, and threatened to go to the police about it." Cassandra had led Shinji to a door in a dark hallway of the house, and opened it without ceremony. She slipped inside, and Shinji hurried to catch up. The two stood inside a pitch-black room, filled with shadowed shapes Shinji was unable to identify.

"So, Hiruga had my mother and father killed… And my home burned to the ground, as a warning to those who would disobey him," Cassandra spoke quietly. "My mother and I hid in a closet… I could hear my father trying to fight the hitmen, and heard him scream as they killed him. I couldn't help but cry out… That was when the hitmen came to the closet. My mother hid me… And took my place." Cassandra pulled a light cord, and the room was bathed in orange and yellow. Shinji blinked, wide-eyed, at the artifacts contained within.

A sleek, dark red bodysuit stood in a glass case, a utility belt clipped to it along with form-fitting armor plates. A desk underneath dozens of framed news clippings and articles. And on every wall, lethal and elegant-looking swords, guns, gauntlets, and various other weapons hung in a testament of death. Shinji looked at Cassandra in numb shock. The older woman simply smiled darkly.

"I survived, only thanks to my mother's sacrifice… And I swore to take revenge against those who had taken away the ones I loved. To make them suffer." Cassandra looked down upon the small boy.

"You too… Have suffered having your loved ones taken in the night. I know. I also know that such pain, such grief… If you do not resolve it, it will consume and destroy you." Cassandra turned to the ancient arsenal and sighed deeply.

"I want… I want to make them pay," Shinji spoke in a determined voice. "I want to _kill_ them all!" Cassandra turned back and shot a sharp look at Shinji, which made him back up a step.

"No, you do not want to kill them," Cassandra spoke in a tone of venom. "I took that path… And it left me like this. Alone… A bitter woman with far too much blood on my hands. Working for the same scum who took my family away." A tired look came into her eyes, and she looked down at the floor.

"… Why are you showing me all this?" Shinji asked plaintively. Cassandra did not look at him, turning instead to the most prominent news clipping on the wall. "_US Army family dies in fire, suspected arson,"_ was the headline it bore.

"Because, in my situation… I had no one to turn to. No one to help me." Cassandra turned to Shinji. "Yuna cares very much for you, Shinji. Do not let this tragedy destroy you, twist you into seeking revenge."

"I don't want revenge!" Shinji shouted at her. "I want justice! I want to put those bastards in jail for the rest of their lives! I want them to pay!" The little boy took deep breaths, still glaring fiercely at Cassandra. Cassandra turned to Shinji and shook her head.

"Even with all my skills, all my training… Shinji, you cannot defeat the evil that took your aunt and uncle away. Not as you are. You are only a little boy… You will be ignored, tossed aside, and ultimately destroyed."

"Then I won't fight evil as Shinji Ikari," Shinji spoke quietly, yet with a conviction beyond his years. He looked at the case containing Cassandra's old suit. "I'll fight as something… Something that can't be destroyed, or ignored, or laughed at." Shinji turned back to the older woman, a plaintive look in his eyes.

"But I can't do it by myself… Please, Miss Cain? Cassandra?" The older woman closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. She slowly opened them, and looked upon the small child.

"You will never take a life, understand? That was my first mistake… And it will be your first rule. The second rule… I make the rules. You will never, ever disobey me, or I will stop your training." She smiled slightly. "And you will need to remember to not always take things so seriously. Especially considering how young you are. Do you still want to continue?"

The little boy nodded, never breaking eye contact. _Not a bad start_, the retired assassin considered. _But still a long way to go._

"Then let us begin."

* * *

2014

Shinjuku was a small community on the outskirts of Osaka-2, one of a hundred such towns built from refugee camps in the wake of the Second Impact. Its ragged origin remained visible in the relatively crude houses, narrow streets, and large criminal population.

A trio of men stalked down the street, heavy bags under their arms. The leader ducked into an alley way, his comrades following.

"Whew! Pay day at last, boys," the leader breathed, smirking at their sacks of ill-gotten gains. One of his goons looked about nervously.

"Eh? Dai, what's your deal? You expecting a demon to jump out?" Laughed the other goon.

"I heard… I've heard stuff, out in the bars, Yama… There's something in this town… It beats down guys like us… I heard from Murray, that gaijin-"

"Oh, quiet Daisuke," the leader groaned. "I've had enough of these bat-ACK!" The leader fell to the pavement, knocked cold from behind.

"Wh-What the-!" Yama fell next, a small shadow sending him tumbling to the ground. Daisuke shivered, panting in horror at the pair of glowing green eyes that appeared in the shadows.

"Run." Spoke the entity. Daisuke screamed, running his legs off down the alley, knocking over trashcans and eliciting angry cat meows in his panic. The glowing eyes of the creature followed him, before winking out. Into the yellow light of the streetlamp outside the alley, a short, lithe but graceful figure appeared. Over his eyes were large goggles that gave the appearance of an insect's eyes. On his head perched a black cowl with two pointed horns on top, which connected down to a flowing cloak. On his chest, over a plain black jumpsuit, was the yellow oval-encased silhouette of a bat.

The boy glared down at the hoods, before he dashed back into the shadows, once again anonymous to the human eye. As he leaped across rooftops and swung from rafters back to his foster home, he considered that all his training and work might be finally coming to a head. The crime rates in every town he'd lived in (and there were several) since 2007 had been reduced by a considerable amount. And those levels stayed down, even after he was whisked away by the distant will of his father. Shinji decided that, if he was going to do _any_ real good in this world, he needed to operate on a much bigger scale.

He needed the resources of a major city. But what were the chances of him being sent to one anytime soon?

* * *

**Suprisingly good, heh heh heh…**


	2. Dos

**Super-revised chapter 2!

* * *

**

"_Shinji! We're launching you now! Hang on!"_ It was a week later that Shinji Ikari, age fourteen, was sitting in a gigantic, purple creature in the depths of NERV, beneath the megatropolis Tokyo-3. A creature he was supposed to use to fight a nearly-unstoppable entity a mile above that wished to end all life on Earth.

_Swell… My dad calls me here for the first time in eleven years, and the first thing he has me do is pilot this monster in an impossible situation!_ The young Ikari thought, angrily breathing in the blood-scented LCL. _Why the hell am I even here? What do I owe my father?_

"_If you won't pilot, then she will,"_ Commander Ikari had stated simply. That was all it had taken. Because Shinji Ikari had sworn on that night, eight years ago, that he would _never_ let another innocent suffer if he could help it. Because the girl in his arms had looked up at him with eyes full of pain and anguish, a look that was simply too familiar. Because, in the very depths of Shinji's soul, he knew it was the right thing to do.

And he'd be damned if he let his anger at his father get in the way of that.

The gee-force of the ascent did not harm Shinji. He'd endured worse pain at the hands of some of the petty street thugs he'd fought back in Shinjuku, Fuyuoka, and a dozen other little towns scattered around the region. Some had dubbed him the 'Night-Demon', a horrible, agile creature that struck like a tiger and could not be harmed, even by bullets. Granted, this was because of the Kevlar and Nomex materials he'd covertly acquired and woven into a costume, but the criminals he hunted didn't know that.

The Angel stood ahead of him, stalking down the street. The teenager wondered who had dubbed such a thing an 'Angel'-It certainly didn't look divine. The exact opposite-An unholy terror, a monster from Hell.

Shinji breathed deeply, focusing.

"_Okay Shinji, just hold onto the control reins and think 'walk',_" ordered Dr. Ritsuko Akagi. "_Imagine that you're in a four-hundred foot tall version of yourself."_

"Roger," he murmured, concentrating. The giant Evangelion Unit 01 took a long step forward. It stumbled over a powerline, but managed to regain its balance, preventing an embarrassing nose dive into the ground.

"_Good job Shinji, you're doing great!"_ Misato cheered him over the radio. The boy smiled: The woman who had been sent to pick him up at the station was energetic and kind, if a bit eccentric.

"Focus, Ikari_," _he muttered, taking another giant step forward. The Angel lashed out with its extending arm, striking the Eva dead-on and sending it crashing to the ground.

"_SHINJI! GET UP! USE YOUR PROGESSIVE KNIFE!"_ Yelled Misato. Shinji groaned in response, focusing his breathing, willing his way past the pain. He managed to get the Eva up to its knees, before the Angel lanced its arm out again, taking Shinji by the head and lifting him as easily as a basketball.

"GAH!" Shinji couldn't breathe, the feedback loop closing his throat. The Angel tossed him back into the launch platform. He slumped against it, as the Angel's eyes glowed.

"_Shinji look ou-"_ Shinji's world was reduced to pain and light, as he screamed through the Angel's beam weapon attack. He breathed shakily, looking up at the creature that was to be his doom.

"_Pull him back! He's just a kid! Recover the Unit!"_

Faintly, over the radio, Shinji heard this. He froze in his seat.

_What about the kid?_

_What about 'im? He's just a kid. C'mon…_

"No…" The young man whispered, glaring defiantly into the visage of the Angel. The plug darkened, the lights fading. He could feel the energy of the great beast holding him begin to die.

"No… I won't… I'm _not_ a kid…" The pilot snarled, fighting the haze coming over his mind. The descending feeling paused.

_Then what are you? _

Shinji blinked, breathing raggedly with wild eyes. The voice… No, it was more of a sensation, than a voice.

"Who… Who are you?"

_Who are you_? Replied the whatever-it-was. Shinji gritted his teeth, trying to calm himself and focus, even as the Angel loomed over him.

_Who are you? Why do you continue to fight? _The sensation pressed. Shinji shuddered

"Because it's the right thing to do! Because I'm NOT a helpless kid! _No more!_" The child screamed into the LCL.

_Then what are you? _The sensation seemed to have a note of expectation. Shinji snarled, gripping the reins as tight as he could, fighting the darkness threatening to envelope him.

"I am vengeance… I am the _night._ I am _BATMAN!"_ Shinji roared, as the Eva's eyes burned with amber fire. It rose up, diving into the Angel's mass with a feral bellow, sending its enemy crashing into the pavement. The Angel's dead eyes blinked, as it struggled to get up, before the Evangelion bodily lifted the creature up over its head and threw it into a skyscraper, it's horrible scream shattering the night. The Angel slowly got back to its feet, and was sent back down again as the Eva punched it's torso into the wreckage it had just emerged from. Leaping high above the Angel, the Eva brought its whole mass down onto the creature through its feet, splintering its prostrate enemy's core. A massive explosion followed, sending the Eva tumbling back into a skyscraper.

Through the inferno of the Angel's self detonation, the bridge crew of NERV watched in stunned awe as the Evangelion got to its feet and walked, a determined gait guiding it, through the flames. Its eyes still burned yellow, an eerie glow in the midst of the burning city.

"That… That was…" Misato started, before stopping. Words seemed empty husks for describing the scene before them.

Above, on the command deck, Commander Ikari watched the Evangelion with a frown. This was not in the scenario… it was no-where near the projections of the MAGI. Somehow, instead of making the Eva go wild to protect it's offspring, the Third Child had melded the creature's full strength with his own. In a sense, it _was_ a berserker shift…

But the sheer will of his son had kept Unit 01 under his control.

"He sure is something, isn't he?" Fuyutsuki commented quietly. Gendo steepled his fingers and held them in front of his face.

"Irrelevant. The scenario will not be altered."

Even though his face seemed expressionless, Fuyutsuki knew that his former student was worried, if even only a little.

* * *

Mari Suzuhara had long since stopped screaming in pain. It had felt like hours ago… Or maybe days, she couldn't tell. No matter how long it had been, it would do no good, and would only waste air in the small pocket amid the wreckage burying her. She'd kept her eyes closed, and hummed a small song to keep herself awake and conscious. She may have only been nine years old, but she was sensible enough to keep her head in such a situation. 

_I wonder what that was?_ She idly thought, recalling the huge black shape that smashed against the hospital she'd been in, visiting her friend from school. The blow had seemed to send the entire building falling down upon her. She could not feel her legs, and one of her arms was pinned. She kept thinking about other things. Her brother's dumb jokes, her father's kind smiles, the wind blowing across her face, wide fields of grass spread out before her…

A sudden movement above her broke her from her reverie. The rock and steel over her head was shifting. Mari held her breath and stayed perfectly still, hoping that the rest of the wreckage was not about to come down on her.

A small blast registered above her and made her cry out, closing her eyes tightly. She felt a wave of fresh air wash over her face, and slowly opened her eyes to a dark silhouette outlined in moonlight above her. Two white, glowing eyes widened slightly above her as the figure stooped down.

"Stay calm. I'm going to get you out of here," the figure spoke in a gruff, yet gentle voice. He pulled off the rocks covering her legs, and Mari bit down a scream. The figure looked up at her.

"Is it bad?" She whispered. The being growled.

"Your legs are broken in several places. There may be damage to your pelvis." The person ran his gloved hands over her lower body quickly and professionally, sighing as he pulled back. He produced a device that resembled a squirt gun, and pulled the trigger. Mari gasped as cold, white foam covered her lower body, and began to harden almost instantly.

"This will keep your bones from being moved, at least until they can be properly set," the figure stated, gently pulling her out of the wreckage and into strong arms. Mari wrapped her good arm around his neck, and gasped when she felt a pinprick against her skin.

"Pain killer and sedative. It will help," the person stated matter-of-factly, his covered eyes narrowing behind the horned black cowl he wore. Mari felt her grasp on consciousness loosening, but managed to get out a question:

"Who are you?" She felt them begin to move, and his response, before she fell into darkness.

"A friend."

* * *

"Shinji? Shinji, where are you-GAH!" Misato started, clutching her heart. She'd been turning to call for her new ward once she'd seen that he wasn't in his room, and came face-to-face with him instead. Shinji smiled apologetically. 

"Sorry Misato-san, did I scare you?" Misato took several deep breaths, and shook her head.

"Please, don't _do _that! God!" Shinji cringed, as Misato finally got her heart rate under control. She looked back at Shinji a bit guiltily.

"I didn't mean to yell, but really!"

"I am sorry, Misato-san."

"Well… Can't be helped, I guess," Misato shook her head with a small smile. "You're pretty good at sneaking around." The purple-haired captain's face gained a sly look.

"Were you trying to sneak into my room and steal my underwear?" Shinji's face turned bright red.

"GAH! Nononono! I swear!" Misato giggled. _He's just too easy!_

"Better not be, Shinji-kun… I might have to spank you!" Misato winked, and Shinji's face turned a shade darker.

"ACK!"

"Well, anyway Shinji-kun, you'd better get to sleep," Misato told him after having her laugh. "It's been a long day, after all."

"Yeah, I know," Shinji sighed, before Misato moved to the side and let him pass to his "lovely suite". He paused and turned back.

"Misato-san? About the… The people in that hospital?" Misato stared at him blankly, and the young man sighed.

"The one I smashed up?" Misato nodded.

"Oh! Oh Shinji, don't worry about it. No one was killed, and only about ten people seriously injured. You hit a wing that's still under construction and isn't very full at night." Misato smiled at him encouragingly when his face turned into a grimace. "Don't worry about it, Shinji. You saved a _lot_ more than you destroyed. If it wasn't for you…" Misato trailed off when she saw that Shinji's grimace wasn't dissipating. She sighed, strode over to him and wrapped him up in a hug.

"Its okay, Shinji-kun. Believe me… It could have been a _lot_ worse. You made sure that it didn't." Shinji sighed deeply into her bosom, and wrapped his arms back around her.

"Misato… Thank you." The purple-haired woman blinked.

"What for?" Shinji inclined his head, smiling up at her.

"For everything… Good night," he told her quietly, before pulling away and entering his room, closing the door behind him. Misato stood for a moment, before smiling herself and heading for the kitchen. There was still a certain penguin that needed to be drunk under the table tonight…

* * *

Shinji pulled out a laptop, and plugged it in. He began working it, and nodded as the computer confirmed what he'd suspected-Monitoring devices in all of the rooms of the apartment. 

_Paranoid bastard,_ Shinji thought derogatorily, before quickly hacking the computers managing the surveillance grid. He nodded in satisfaction-The loop he'd set up of himself sleeping, and then going out for a glass of water were all that the cameras picked up. Right now, anyone watching the feed would simply see Shinji back in his bed, sleeping. The young man set aside his computer, and reached under his bed, pulling out his Batman costume. He nodded in satisfaction at the new version he'd created just before he'd been summoned to Tokyo-3 by his father.

Cassandra was unable to assist him as directly as she once had. Shinji had only spent two years in Yuna's care before being uprooted and moved by his father's command. But she'd still been able to put him in contact with a friend of hers working for a developmental section of the JSSDF. The main body of his costume was a refitted prototype combat suit for infantry-Designed mainly to keep troops warm, waterproof, and protected from weapons fire up to the semi-automatic range. The gauntlets were steel, and equipped with spines useful for hand-to-hand combat and climbing, while the gloves and boots were modified from advanced climbing gear models. The belt was crush-proof and carried numerous weapons and gadgets Shinji had either bought or built with Cassandra's tutelage, including bat-shaped shuriken he'd fashioned himself. Finally, the cape and cowl were made from fire-retardant materials, and reinforced in key places with Kevlar and other protective materials. Though his business and mission were serious, the young man could not help the smile that came to his face as he looked out his window over the city of Neo Tokyo-3.

His city. Which he'd protect in every way, as both an Eva Pilot… And Batman.

* * *

**To be continued!**


	3. Tres

**Super-revised chapter 3!

* * *

**

"… And then POW! The attempted rapist goes down! And then, the Batman just WHOOSH! Flies away!" Kensuke Aida enthusiastically related, grinning throughout the entire story. Sharing the shade of the oak tree, Shinji Ikari and Touji Suzuhara looked up at the otaku with mirrored expressions of disbelief.

"C'mon, Kensuke… You don't _really_ believe in this crap, do you?" Touji shook his head. "You've been reading too many comic books…"

"But it's _true!_" Kensuke protested. "Ask lots of kids around school! They know people who were saved by Batman!" Kensuke frowned. "In fact, it began after the first Angel attack. Batman showing up and saving people."

"Come off it, Kensuke," Touji sighed. "It's bad enough that Mari talks about it all the time when I visit her - The 'Batman'! Yeah, right." The athlete turned to the Eva pilot.

"I think 'Suke's lost his head." Shinji smiled slightly.

"Yeah. C'mon Kensuke-What kind of guy would _seriously_ go around, dressed like a giant bat, saving people?"

"Totally! See, Shinji agrees with me," Touji grinned. "Now… When are you gonna slip your old pals some of Misato's underwear, hm?" Shinji frowned, just as the sounds of police sirens filled the air.

"She's just my guardian, you guys," Shinji protested, before getting up. "I've got to go to the bathroom."

The Third Child departed, just as a fleet of police cruisers raced past the school. Kensuke grinned and turned to Touji.

"C'mon! Let's go!"

"We have class," pointed out Touji.

"Come on! That many police cars? It's got to be something big!" Touji rolled his eyes.

"Fine, fine… Only to make sure you don't do something stupid got it?"

* * *

"THIS ENTIRE CITY SHALL BURN! BURN FOR its CRIMES AGAINST THE LORD!" Shrieked the man dressed like a pastor in the center of the bank, over the heads of the terrified people. A number of his accomplices were busy filling bags with money, or pouring gasoline over the floor.

"_This is the Tokyo-3 police. We have you surrounded,"_ was announced through the glass doors of the bank. "_Come out with your hands up and surrender."_

"INFIDELS!" The 'pastor' screamed again, hefting a sobbing woman to her feet and holding a gun to her head. "YOU WILL ALL BURN! BEGINNING WITH YOU!"

At that moment, a small sphere dropped from the ceiling onto the pastor's head. It burst into a red sludge that covered the pastor's face, making him scream in agony and fall away from the frightened woman.The other men looked up, only to see the dark shape of a wraith drop from an air conditioning duct.

Batman threw four batarangs on his way down, each one hitting one of the 'pastor's' men, making them scream or fall as the tiny blades imbedded themselves into their flesh, causing intense pain. A few others raised their guns as the Dark Knight of Tokyo-3 landed, but a second pair of batarangs knocked their weapons away.

The goons rushed Batman, trying to close the range and take him down with their fists. The Batman jumped and drop-kicked one man, before throwing two more gas capsules into the faces of two more, making them scream and fall as the high-concentration pepper spray burned their faces. Batman brought them down by a roundhouse kick, before dodging a blow from another man and rabbit-punching him in the groin.

The 'pastor' saw his flock easily defeated by this lone man, this… _demon_. Breathing heavily, he grabbed the same woman by the hair and held his gun to her head as the Batman turned to him.

"Not a step closer, demon!" Shouted the madman over the woman's whimpers. "Or I'll send her to Hell! Then, I'll send you to follow her!" The Batman paused, his opaque eyes boring into the pastor.

"Let her go. She has no part in this crusade of yours," Batman ground out. The pastor laughed.

"ALL OF YOU HAVE A PART IN MY CRUSADE! THE PART OF THE DEAD! DEAD! BUR-" While the madman ranted, a single batarang had knocked his weapon from his hand. The woman he held then violently elbowed him in the solar plexus, before punching him in the nose and sending him to the floor in a beaten, mumbling heap. She turned, brushing her short black hair out of her eyes. Batman was still there, staring at her.

"… Um…" The Batman dropped a capsule, which exploded into dark, harmless smoke. As it cleared, it revealed the former hostages rising to their feet, confused, but no Batman.

Maya Ibuki sighed. _I didn't even thank him…_

A few blocks away, Kensuke Aida and Touji Suzuhara had nearly been run down by a police cruiser, had it not been for Batman's timely interference. The Dark Knight told the two to stop being so reckless, before heading off to the bank, leaving a squealing happy Kensuke and a completely shocked Touji.

The former of which being compelled to chant," I told you so! I told you so!" all the way back to school…

* * *

Gendo Ikari frowned as he watched the bank security footage yet again, Fuyutsuki ever at his side. Dr. Ritsuko Akagi watched with them as well, a single un-dyed eyebrow raised as the Caped Crusader of Tokyo-3 took down a terrorist cell that NERV had been unable to track and stop for about six months.

"He's serious," Fuyutsuki commented. "This is no mere cosplayer. He knows what he's doing." Ritsuko nodded.

"He is…" The faux-blonde agreed. _And he has a nice ass in tights, too._

Ritsuko's cheeks colored slightly at that thought. _Down girl._

"The committee is concerned about the appearances of this 'Batman'," Gendo broke the silence. "I told them that there is no danger to the scenario…"

"Was this before or after he interfered in the Jet Alone incident?" Fuyutsuki observed dryly. Gendo frowned as Ritsuko winced.

"This Batman was able to defeat your programming skills, Doctor," The Commander said flatly. "And he has struck down Section 2's undercover gangs, for use in keeping the public in order." Gendo assumed his trademark position.

"I want him eliminated. His continued interference may yet endanger the scenario."

"Curiously, he's never shown up during an Angel attack," commented Fuyutsuki. "Well… His vehicle has been sighted in the city, but physically, he has not appeared during any of the attacks."

"Even so, how long will that last?" Ritsuko asked. "The Second Child is due to arrive soon," added the false blonde. "If we're to do anything about him, we should probably do it quickly."

"What about trying to recruit him," Suggested Fuyutsuki. Gendo and Ritsuko looked at him.

"Think about it: The majority of the public approves of him. He has obviously great skill, as a fighter, a computer expert, an investigator… Can you think of a better addition to NERV?"

"He is also fighting while masked, Sensei," Gendo countered. "And clearly has great intelligence and determination. Were he to discover our projects, he would most certainly attempt to stop them."

"Well… What about this?" Ritsuko began. "We try to talk to him, at least… Make him make contact with us. If we use the proper means, we could probably manipulate him into doing things for us." Gendo looked thoughtful, before he opened a drawer of his desk. He reached into it, and retrieved a stack of plastic-wrapped papers. He slid them across the desktop to Ritsuko, who picked the first off the top of the stack and blinked.

"_Detective Comic's Batman?_" The doctor looked up at Gendo. "You can't be serious."

"Begin a new project, Doctor," Gendo ordered. "Offer a reward to whoever of our staff can make contact with Batman. Perhaps some clue to how to accomplish it exists in these Pre-Impact graphic novels." He turned his chair to face the window of the office, "Dismissed."

Ritsuko and Fuyutsuki departed, leaving the Commander to brood once more… Before he turned and opened another drawer. He retrieved another plastic-bound comic book, which he carefully, meticulously, opened, before opening the book itself and beginning to read.

"Superman is such a moron… Shame we couldn't have him instead of Batman," Gendo muttered to himself, engrossed in the ancient serial.

* * *

"No! It's _my_ project!" Ritsuko growled to Misato, the lavender-haired Head of Operations snarling back.

"I don't care! I'm the head of Tactical Operations! This is a _Tactical_ operation, _Doctor!_"

"It's also _my project,_ _Major,_" Ritsuko sniffed.

"But… But I look better in the costume!" Misato pouted, indicating the skin-tight leather jumpsuit she now wore. Ritsuko, in her usual lab coat, scowled.

"Misato…"

"I even _look_ like Catwoman! C'mon! Purple leather… Purple hair… Not to mention I've got the 'talent'," she commented mildly, indicating her bust. Ritsuko groaned.

"Then who am I supposed to be, hm? Harley Quinn! I'm allergic to clown make-up, and besides, I'm _not_ a sycophant to some deranged jerk!"

Misato stared at her former college roommate. Ritsuko coughed.

"Well, at least he doesn't wear a purple suit and clown make-up, right?" Misato offered, grinning cattily. Ritsuko glared, before sighing and turning back to the "research material".

"Hm… I could always go as another villainess," Ritsuko mused. "On the other hand, there's no reason I can't come up with something _original_, now is there?"

"Rits, if this is _Batman_, then this guy is probably just as clue-oriented as the comic book guy," Misato pointed out. "Any mention of the Rogue's Gallery will make him, well… Batty." She grinned.

"Now then… What about the… Riddler! C'mon, you're smart… And you look good in green, matches your eyes…"

"The Riddler was a guy!"

"So? The comic Batman was like… Six feet tall! And this Batman's barely taller than Shinji! We'd call him _Batboy_ if he didn't kick ass so well!" Misato grinned lecherously.

"And speaking of his ass…"

"Mmm…" Ritsuko murmured, smiling naughtily. It'd been a while since she'd engaged in this kind of banter with Misato. Far too long… She'd forgotten how much amusement she could get out of it.

"You know what they say about short guys," Misato added. Ritsuko raised an eyebrow.

"What do they say?"

"Sempai! Sempai! I'm done!" Maya Ibuki announced happily. The two older women turned… And blinked.

Slightly flushed, Maya Ibuki stood, dressed in her costume. Green tights showed off her long, thin legs, while a tight red tunic with a stylized _R_ on the left breast showed off her slim, attractive torso. She wore black boots, a yellow utility belt, and green gloves, with a short, black and yellow cape hanging from her shoulders. On her face was a domino mask with opaque, one-way lenses that hid her eyes.

"Nice, Maya," Misato grinned. "Where'd you get it?"

"Er… Old Halloween costume," Maya blushed. "It's a bit tighter than I remember…"

"So, you had to go commando to get into it?" Misato grinned. "That'll get his attention, all right."

Maya blushed prettily, looking at the floor.

"Well… I should try to thank him… For, you know… Saving my life," she mumbled.

"And how would you consider going about 'thanking' him, hm?" Misato purred. Maya's blush deepened.

"You're really getting too into this cat thing," Ritsuko noted, reading one of the comic books. Misato stuck out her tongue.

"Meow."

"So Sempai, how are you going to… Attract Batman?" Maya asked, blushing. Ritsuko smirked.

"Well, the _simple_ way would just be to put up a Bat-signal and wait," the faux blonde observed mildly. "It would be the easiest method, actually."

"Aw… Where's the fun in that?" Misato pouted. "Give him a good riddle and see if he follows it. C'mon… _Test him._ See if he's _really_ as good as we think he is."

"Oh… All right. But, if we all fail, I'm putting up the Batsignal, got it?" Ritsuko stated firmly. She then leaned back in her chair thoughtfully. _Now where did I put my green leotard…?

* * *

_

Shinji couldn't help but feel pride well up in him as he finally sat back in the main chair of his finished headquarters. It had taken some doing, but he'd managed to clean up and equip the supposedly "useless" Angel shelter only a few blocks away from Misato's apartment complex. It was easily assessable via maintenance tunnels that suddenly became "caved in", at least to the city's monitoring system. And it had plenty of room for his arsenal.

He'd "borrowed" a few million in American dollars from his father's personal accounts (when would that man get more creative than using his mother's name for a password?), spending it on getting a few essentials for his base of operations - A vehicle, for starters. It was a heavily modified Dodge Viper, with bulletproof, lightweight armor panels, ejection seats, satellite communications systems, and booster jets, not to mention enough defensive weaponry to make James Bond's car look like a Pinto. It's sleek black paint job and wing-like extensions made it look like a horrifying demon of the night-Which was the point.

A few super computers and crime lab accessories were next, that Shinji had picked up at various drop-off points in different points in the city, under fake company names and always under disguise. He'd set them up here, along with an independent power source, advanced security technology, and at least three doors made of three-inch thick high-tensile steel.

Finally, there were several secret and hidden entrances to the shelter

Batman may have been paranoid. But, he'd hacked enough of NERV's files (not the entire mainframe but certainly a fair amount of top-secret info) to know the depths of his father's ruthlessness. He had no doubt that if the Commander found out who Batman really was, the best thing he could look forward to would be exile or imprisonment.

It was therefore completely understandable for Shinji, dressed in full costume, to immediately strike out with a cutting batarang the instant he heard a footstep behind his chair.

He stared at the intruder. The intruder, holding his batarang between her hands, dropped the weapon to the floor and stared back.

"Ikari-kun," Rei Ayanami nodded.

_Shit, _thought Batman.

* * *

**TO BE CONTINUED**


	4. Quatro

**Super revised chapter four!**

---

"How did you get in here?" Batman snarled, in a tone that would have the hardiest street thugs wetting their pants. Rei merely looked curious.

"I followed you." Batman's scowl remained. He'd _seen_ the relationship between Ayanami and his father. And he knew his father. Shinji had actually come up with a number of protocols to deal with such a situation, a minion of his father's, infiltrating the Cave.

He was prepared to implement them the instant Rei made a false move. What did it matter that she was beautiful? That she had sworn to (and _did)_ protect him? That she had those damn eyes of hers, scarlet and seemingly empty, but filled with a sadness and depth that matched his own.

"My experiences with such activities is limited," she began, "but being a vigilante dressed as a bat seems to be a curious social past time."

Blunt as ever.

"It's my mission," replied Shinji, still in his Batman mode. "It's something I have to do."

"Because of the murders of your aunt and uncle?" The azure-haired girl asked. Batman remained silent. Rei took that as assent.

"Why are you here, Ayanami?" Batman demanded. Ayanami tilted her head slightly.

"I was… Curious," she admitted. "I followed you and… Saw you change." She stared into Batman's unwavering gaze.

"You are… Very different, as Batman. You are darker, in manner and appearance," she continued. "And yet… There is the same… Spirit between you both."

"Are you going to report this to my father?" Batman asked, more softly, closer to Shinji Ikari's voice but with steel behind it. Rei stared back.

"I can only do what I am ordered to do-" She began.

"Rei… If I only did what I was told to do… I would be dead right now, okay?" Shinji pressed. "I'm Batman… Because I _chose_ to become Batman. And… It means more to me than most anything in the world."

"Why?" Rei asked.

"… I asked you why you pilot, correct?" Shinji asked. "Because it's the only thing you have?" Rei nodded. "In some ways… This is the only thing I have. Besides Misato… That keeps me sane." Shinji shrugged.

"I am Batman, Rei. It's who I've molded myself into. It's… It's part of me. And if you tell the commander… Who I am…"

"It will cause you pain," Rei stated. Shinji nodded fractionally. _How strange,_ though the blue haired girl, _that he can be Shinji within the suit, and yet Batman outside it. And yet, the suit is supposed to be all that separates the two._

"… My orders are to not let harm come to you," Rei stated flatly. "This is a very dangerous mission you are undertaking."

Shinji nodded, suspecting that she was trying to soften the blow-

"Therefore, you will require my protection for this undertaking," she concluded, a slight twitch of her facial muscles resulting in a brief smile. Shinji blinked.

"… Wha?"

"Does not Batman require a Robin?" She asked smoothly. Batman frowned.

"This is dangerous, Rei… I don't want you to get hurt."

"And I am ordered not to let any harm come to you," Rei responded. "And any failure in my duties requires reporting it to the Commander…"

_God, why do you hate me?_ Shinji inquired silently. He got no response.

---

Batman sighed. It had been two weeks since Rei had joined up as "Batgirl", citing that she did not particularly like the color red (and after Shinji pointed out that a simple domino mask wouldn't conceal her identity sufficiently), and while he had to admit it _was _nice to have a partner, it was just once more thing to stress about.

She was on the other side of town, covering for him for Asuka-The-Devil-Wench. Since she'd showed up, he'd had to reschedule his patrols to keep the Second Child happy. Shinji's psych profile intended for him to be subservient and "house-broken". A girl like Asuka was supposed to illicit his sympathy, respect, and (he'd noted with disgust in the file he'd hacked) romantic interest.

Yeah, right, and maybe Catwoman would pop out of the comics right in-

"Evening, Batman," came a sultry purr from the rooftop nearby. Batman frowned, and turned. In a feline (and _very_ distracting) crouch, was a smirking Catwoman, short blonde hair, spilling over the shoulders of a matching vinyl (and _extremely_ revealing) cat costume. In her hands sat a bag filled with gems from the jewelry store before them.

"Meow."

… _Shit._

"What do you think you're doing?" Came his response in Batman's roughest gravel. Catwoman purred.

"Having some fun… How about you? Would you like to join me?" Her gaze was starting to make Batman feel _very_ uncomfortable.

_Remember… You are Batman. Vengeance, night, justice… You can handle Catwoman. Even if she is sexy, and playful, and-GAH!_

"Return the jewels and I _might _not tie you up and hang you from a light pole for the cops to pick up in the morning," he growled, moving to intercept her. She grinned naughtily, nimbly dodging away.

"Ooh… Never figured you for the bondage type, Batman. It sounds _interesting_," she purred, running her fingers over the bullwhip at her belt suggestively.

_Batman DOES NOT have nosebleeds, Batman DOES NOT HAVE NOSEBLEEDS…_

"Stop right there, Catwoman!" Announced another feminine voice from another rooftop. Batman and Catwoman turned and watched as a lithe red-clad figure swung for them on a zip line… Completely missing Catwoman and swinging into a roof-to air conditioning unit with a loud _clang_.

"Erg… Check please," the newcomer groaned, dizzily staggering towards Batman and the cat. Batman moved forward, catching the young woman before she could wander over the side of the building. He raised an eyebrow at her attire.

"Ooh… A sweet little bird," Catwoman commented, licking her lips with a smile. "How about a threesome, Bats? Bat, cat, and bird, together…"

"Tweet," commented Robin groggily, which kept Batman from blushing his cheeks off at _that _comment. It didn't, however, keep him from noting just how… _thin_ Robin's attire was.

"Great… Who else can show up?" He muttered.

"Hey, Batman," crooned another sultry voice. "Looks like you've got your… Hands… Full…" The three turned. Another Catwoman, identical costume with long lavender hair, stood staring at her twin.

"_HEY! _I thought we agreed!" Growled the second cat. "_I'M_ Catwoman, you're Riddler!"

"Well I couldn't find my green leotard," sniffed the blonde Catwoman.

"_SO!_ Buy a new one! Or _steal_ a new one!" The lavender-haired woman snarled. "Copy-cat!"

"Oh yeah, that's _so_ creative," drawled the blonde. "Slob!"

"Commander's whore!"

"Kaji's bitch!"

"_THAT'S IT!" _The lavender-haired Catwoman lunged for the blonde, and the two were tussling, biting, clawing, slapping, and kicking with a cacophony of screams and insults.

Batman watched for a moment, before calmly picking up the stolen jewels, attaching them to his utility belt, and turning away, Robin still gurgling in his arms. He fired off a zip line and swung away. The Catwomen didn't notice until…

"… HEY! Let go! Let go! He's _gone!_"

"You dirty-Huh? … Oh. So he is."

"…"

"…"

"It's your fault."

"MY FAULT!"

The cat-fight resumed.

---

Gendo listened with a straight face as a heavily bandaged Major Katsuragi and Dr. Akagi reported their mission summaries, with a great deal of dirty looks directed at each other.

"I see… And Lieutenant Ibuki? Your mission report?"

The short haired woman was smiling dreamily, before she blinked.

"Huh? Commander? Did you say something?"

"How did your mission to contact Batman go?" The Commander repeated, hiding his frustration. Maya's face erupted into a goofy grin.

"Wow," she murmured. "He was so… Nice, and understanding… And swung away with me… And didn't make fun of me… And… And…" She resumed her dreamy expression. Commander Ikari sighed, before turning to the sixth occupant of the room.

"Pilot Ikari… Your attempt at locating the Batman?" The Third Child sighed.

"Couldn't even get his attention… I guess he was distracted… By, well," he indicated the females in the room. Gendo sighed again.

"Very well… You are all dismissed." A sheepish-looking Shinji, a glowing Maya, and two angry and hissing former college roommates left the dark office. A few moments passed. Fuyutsuki heard his commander make a strange, choked sound.

"Ikari? Are you-?" The older man froze as he watched Gendo begin laughing his head off, pounding the desk in front of him. Fuyutsuki blinked, before edging _slowly_ away.

_I really need to retire…_

---

Maya sighed happily as she glomped a slightly-uncomfortable looking Shinji in the Batcave.

"Oh Shinji… You've made me _sooo_ happy!" She gushed. The Third Child coughed.

"Ah… How?"

"You helped me," she replied. "And accepted me… And you're just _so_ _hot_ in your Batman costume," she nuzzled his neck, making him blush. He was starting to wonder if letting Maya in on his and Rei's secret was still such a good idea.

"Please, do just one thing for me?" Maya pleaded. Shinji blinked awkwardly.

"Um… Sure," he replied.

"… Say it in the voice," she sighed. Shinji rolled his eyes good-naturedly.

"To the Batmobile, Robin," he growled in Batman's low, gruff tone. Maya giggled.

"I, too, would like to hear it in your Batman voice, Ikari-kun," added Rei, having just entered the Cave and pulled off her full-face Batgirl cowl. Shinji sighed.

_Exactly when did my life turn into _Love Hina?

"I must submit my concern about Pilot Sorhyu, Ikari-kun," Rei spoke. "Despite our warning, she insists on going out to observe Batman in person." Shinji rolled his eyes. It was bad enough she'd been living with him ever since they'd defeated the Seventh Angel. Now she was hoping to find Batman and 'catch him in the act' as it were.

"She's stubborn, I'll give her that," Shinji grimaced. "But this is _not_ the kind of thing she needs to get involved it." Shinji raised an eyebrow at Rei. "Did you really have to hit her that hard?"

Red eyes crinkled in a smile only an Ikari could pick up on.

"Yes."

**To be continued…**


	5. Cinco

**Revised Chapter number 5!**

---

"Four robberies, and he _still_ hasn't taken the bait we've offered," Misato sighed in Ritsuko's laboratory. The faux blonde shrugged.

"He's got Batgirl and Robin with him. Maybe we're just too much for him to take?"

Ritsuko frowned. "And Maya hasn't had any luck, even though he meets him for every nightly patrol, to find out who he is."

"Guess the ol' Bat Charm won her over," Misato noted with a grin. "Asuka's been going out as 'The Crimson Avenger', but still, no takers."

"You know Misato," Ritsuko began, "I've noticed something." The blonde called up a holographic image of Eva Unit 01, at the last battle against the Ninth Angel. NERV had been suffering from an internal and external assault from some of the Commander's enemies, resulting in a _extremely_ trying situation. They'd barely survived as it was.

"Yes, Rits?" Ritsuko ran the clip, which showed how Shinji threw a piece of metal at the Angel in question with such force and precision it had knocked the alien through an armored wall. Rei had struck with the force of her unit's foot, before Asuka finally finished the Ninth off with her prog knife.

"Notice how Shinji threw that metal shard," Ritsuko stated, before calling up some of the security footage of Batman foiling another robbery. "Now, watch Batman." The video ran. Batman threw a batarang, knocking a twelve-gauge shotgun out of the hands of one of the bank robbers, before his partner Batgirl landed a killer kick into the criminal's face.

Misato frowned.

"See the similarities?" Ritsuko pressed. Misato nodded.

"So… What are you saying? That Shinji and Rei are Batman and Batgirl?" Misato grinned at that thought. "And they fight crime at night and save the world?" Both women looked at each other, before laughing hysterically.

"Oh… Oh God, Rits… You've got one hell of a sense of humor," Misato gasped.

"I… I just noticed it," Ritsuko cackled. "I don't believe it myself! HA! Like those two could be those two… Honestly…"

"So, I hear you and the Commander are working on the latest plan to attract Batman to NERV," Misato grinned, after getting over her giggles. "What did you two have in mind?"

---

The Bat Signal had been cast upon the clouds over Tokyo-3 for about three hours now, and Gendo Ikari, though he was hiding it, was becoming frustrated.

"Somehow, I doubt that the Batman is that gullible," noted Fuyutsuki for the umpteenth time. Gendo ground his teeth. Nearby, on the roof with them, Ritsuko Akagi bit her lower lip.

"I'm… I'm sure he'll show, soon," the false blonde reassured her lover. She winced at the scathing look he shot her, promising that he was going to take out his frustrations on her this night. She shuddered.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Doctor," the Commander stated shortly, turning and heading down the stairs. Fuyutsuki gave Ritsuko an apologetic look as he followed his former student. The blonde slumped against the searchlight, looking miserable.

Gendo had become rougher, over the last few weeks. Ever since the Ninth Angel attack, he'd let his frustrations out on her in his bed. She absently rubbed her bruised cheek, covered under heavy make-up, but still throbbing.

_I won't cry… I won't cry… I don't cry…_ Even this affirmation didn't keep some moisture bubbling up at the corners of her eyes.

_SMASH!_ Ritsuko jumped and fell onto her side. She looked up with wide eyes, at the shattered Bat-Signal. Amid the snapping and crackling electronics, jutted the wing of a bat-shaped blade. She heard the sound of a heavy fabric waving in the wind, and followed it to it's source. She gaped.

"Doctor Akagi," Batman greeted, bowing his head slightly. Next to him, his partner, Batgirl, in her black full-face mask, stood like Batman's shadow. The yellow bat-silhouette on her chest was the only thing distinguishing her from the night behind her.

"Wha… What do you want?" Ritsuko stammered, clumsily getting to her feet. The Batman's opaque eye covers narrowed.

"You lit the signal. We're here now. I believe I should be asking you that," the vigilante noted in his gruff voice, though the blonde felt there was a hint of bemusement in his tone.

"I… Well… Um…" Ritsuko took a deep breath, and assumed a professional demeanor. "As a representative of NERV, sanctioned by the United Nations Security council in 2011 to defend the human race against the threat of the Angels, I am officially extending greetings and a proposed alliance to you, the Batman of Tokyo-3." The blonde paused, watching the reactions of the two vigilantes. Neither moved, standing like statues.

"Er… NERV feels that your considerable skills and talents would doubtless contribute to the defense against the Angels. Commander Ikari is fully willing to compensate you for your services and-"

"No." Ritsuko blinked.

"Um… Excuse me?" Batman's glower noticeably deepened.

"I serve justice. Not NERV. Find some other stool pigeon," Batman stated, turning and heading for the edge of the roof. Batgirl followed, still silent.

"Hey! Wait! You can serve justice with NERV! Come back!" Ritsuko yelped. She ran after Batman, reaching out for his shoulder. A powerful, painful grip catches her wrist before her fingers make contact. Batman's hand has her. He looks back over his shoulder.

"I said no."

"But… Um…" Batman had turned to face her completely, making her fidget. His other hand had gently grasped her chin, as he surveyed her face completely. She couldn't help but shiver under his intense gaze, even behind the eye covers it made her feel so… Naked.

"Batgirl." The other vigilante was looking over Batman's shoulder. She nodded.

"Commander Ikari's fist," she said in a quiet voice. Ritsuko could swear she's heard that voice before, but the mask was muffling Batgirl's words to an anonymous female tone. Batman's eyes seem to widen slightly, before narrowing again.

"Don't worry about him. We'll take care of it," Batman said flatly, gently letting Ritsuko go and running to the roof's edge. He leaped off, firing off a zip line, with Batgirl copying the maneuver and following him into the night. Ritsuko watched the two depart, feeling faint.

"Take… care of…?"

---

Gendo Ikari frowned. He checked his watch.

"Driver, can we hurry this up?" The Bastard King of NERV stated flatly from the back of the limo. "I have matters to attend to."

_And frustration to vent,_ he thought of his 'date' tonight with Dr. Akagi. She needed punishment for her most recent failures, and Gendo needed anger relief. Their arrangement would kill both birds with one stone.

"Sorry sir, the motor's acting funny," the driver apologized, just before the engine of the limousine sputtered violently and died. The limo came to a halt, as the hood began to smoke.

"Excuse me, sir, I'll check it out," the driver stated, getting out and heading to the front of the car. The driver was confused. Why was a blade stuck in the hood of the limousine?

He took a closer look. He gaped, just before a black fist sent him crashing to the pavement.

Gendo saw the driver fall, and sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. _Why do I pick the clumsy ones?_

_Because you had the good ones killed,_ a sardonic voice in his head noted. Gendo frowned, getting up out of the limo, a hand on his hidden sidearm. Paranoia helped keep him alive during his rise to power, and there was no reason to quit on it now.

"Driver, get the hell up and-" A dainty fist rammed into the back of his head, and he blacked out.

Some time later, Gendo Ikari woke up with an agonizing headache. He didn't want to open his eyes, but he knew he had to.

He wished he hadn't. He wished he'd been a coward for once in his life.

_Once?_

_Shut up._

He was staring at himself, wrapped like a caterpillar in it's cocoon with black, high-tensile rope. Faintly through the semi-reflective glass, he saw a number of people staring and whispering amongst themselves in an office.

He gritted his teeth and looked down. He was suspended at least twenty stories above the streets of Tokyo-3. News and rescue vehicles, along with a large crowd of people, were below him. He looked back up at his reflection.

A single sheet of paper was stuck to him. It bore the visual of the Bat, and a short note:

_Enjoy the view._

BM

Gendo Ikari decided right then and there, that this was one man who wouldn't live to humiliate him again. This was one man who would _die_ a horrible, _painful_ death. Even more horrible than anything he'd visited upon his enemies!

This was one man… Who had taped up images of him abusing Dr. Akagi onto the glass.

Gendo decided things were bad enough without shrieking like a mad man that Batman was dead and he'd better get his fucking will together.

---

Misato had been holding Ritsuko in the lab for over an hour now, as the blonde savant cried for the first time since her mother's death. The major tried to soothe her best friend, rubbing her back.

"So… Don't worry, Ritsu. Even if he does come back… And he probably will… He'll have a restraining order and a taser bracelet attached to his ankle," Misato sighed. Ritsuko sniffled slightly.

"I… I don't know whether to be sad for Gendo… Angry at him… Happy or angry at Batman…" The blonde shrugged helplessly. "I'm so… So confused…"

"Psychology never was one of your strong classes," Misato confirmed. Ritsuko glared at her.

"Least I didn't flash the professor," she muttered, as Misato flushed.

"Okay… But look: You'll be just fine, okay? I'm here… And Shinji's invited you to dinner tonight." Misato smiled impishly. "I'm starting to think he's got a crush on you… From how he's been acting towards you lately."

"Great. Another Ikari attracted to me," Akagi moaned. "That's the last thing I need…"

---

"So, you'll pay the fine, wear the ankle tracker, and just don't do anything remotely evil for the next few months," Fuyutsuki tried to consul his former student. "It won't be _that_ bad. The Committee was willing to overlook the whole thing once they stopped laughing."

"I fucking hate Batman," Gendo said for the umpteenth time from behind the reinforced glass. "I fucking _hate him,_ Sensei. And I'm going to kill him. Oh yes, I'm going to _enjoy_ watching him die…"

"Yes, Gendo," the older man sighed. As if his obsession with Yui hadn't been bad enough.

"I'll have rats nibble his fucking skin off! I'll use a beaver to chew his balls off! No, I'll have Shinji in Unit 01 pinch his genitals off!" Gendo continued, in an eerily calm voice.

"Right, of course, Ikari," Fuyutsuki nodded.

"You are taking these down, right Sensei?"

"Of course, Gendo."

"_Excellent._ While we're at it, I'll have Shinji _join me_ in hunting and killing Batman! Father-son bonding! It'll be perfect! I'll turn him into the most ruthless son of a bitch the world has ever seen! Aside from me, of course."

"Yes, Gendo." Fuyutsuki was beginning to wonder if taking up Toudai University on it's ever-present offer to join the faculty might not be such a bad idea.

"I'll mold him into the most _evil, ruthless,_ diabolical monster in history! I'll give him a harem! He'll love me forever! We'll _both_ get Yui back! He can get rid of his Oedipal issues _with us!_ I wonder if Yui would mind having a threesome? She never objected when Naoko joined us…"

Yes, a nice, peaceful professorship was looking better and better every day, reflected Fuyutsuki.

---

"The Commander is not pleased."

"That was kind of the point, Rei-chan," Shinji pointed out, as the two went over a Yakuza case file in the Cave. Rei nodded thoughtfully.

"He has asked me to begin… 'Turning you into a man'." The sound of Shinji typing abruptly ceased.

"… Any reason why?"

"His explanation was that you needed to stop being such a pussy," Rei re-iterated, making the entire scene even more surreal with her deadpan tone.

"And… How would you go about turning me into a man?" Shinji asked. Rei blinked at him, a 'Some Greatest Detective in the World _you are'_ look on her face.

"By having sexual intercourse with you." Shinji began coughing violently.

Rei was like a sister to him. She was his partner. They trashed biker gangs together, for God's sake! It wasn't exactly the best foundation for a romantic relationship.

Not to mention that Maya might have some objections to Rei making a move on him. Shinji couldn't be sure, but the fact that Maya didn't wear anything under her Robin costume, and used the Cave shower after every mission in front of him and was always asking him to 'wash her back' seemed to indicate that she wasn't averse to his presence.

"O… Kay…" Shinji coughed. "Were you ordered to do this?"

"Yes." Rei was staring at him intensely. Shinji took a deep breath.

_You are Batman, you are Batman, you are Batman, you are Batman…_

"Do you intend to carry out this order?" Rei stood up, and in one fluid motion, ripped her school uniform off. Shinji stared, slack-jawed, at the overwhelming evidence that Rei's natural hair color was _indeed_ azure.

"Yes. However, in order to lessen the tension this would bring to the mission, I requested Lieutenant Ibuki's assistance." From behind him, Shinji felt Maya's warm breath tickling his neck. He shivered.

"And it wouldn't be good to refuse the direct orders of the Commander, now would it, Shinji-kun?" The lithe Lieutenant asked playfully.

_THUMP!_

"He can handle terrorists, giant monsters trying to destroy mankind, and violent psychopaths," noted Maya with a sigh. "But two women who want to have sex with him is too much?"

"I now see the wisdom in the Commander's orders," Rei noted, as she bent down to remove Shinji's pants. "Will you assist me, Lieutenant Ibuki?"

"Of course, Pilot Ayanami," Maya smirked.

---

**I think we'll leave Shinji to his doom. Er, I mean, orders. Heh.**

Now… Regarding some of your questions: Yes, Shinji is essentially the same outside of the costume as he is in the series. That's the point: Who would seriously entertain the idea that mild-mannered, pathetic Shinji, is in fact the Batman?


	6. Seis

"Speech"

_Thoughts_

_**Sign Language

* * *

**_

"Mmmm… God Shinji, this is _divine,"_ Ritsuko moaned happily around the food in her mouth. Across the table in Misato's apartment, Shinji smiled slightly, averting his eyes.

"Um, thank you, Ritsuko-san. It was… My pleasure." Sitting next to him, on either side, were an oddly-smiling Maya and a not-quite smiling Rei. Shinji had refused to look at either since they sat down. Misato and Asuka had been bickering as usual, though Ritsuko had noticed something… Off, with Shinji, her assistant, and the First Child.

"Are you all right, Shinji? You've hardly said a word all night."

"Just… Tired," he coughed. Maya smothered a giggle, while Rei's not-quite-a-smile grew. Ritsuko raised an eyebrow.

"Well, I'm going out tonight… Again… To find Batman," Asuka declared. She smirked. "And I'm going to find him and kick his ass!"

"Yeah, right," muttered Shinji under his breath. Asuka growled.

"What was that, Baka?"

"Er…"

"Ikari-kun was merely stating how unlikely it will be for you to locate Batman," Rei assisted. Asuka fumed while Shinji whimpered.

"Um, Rei? I really don't-"

"What! Oh, and I suppose Baka here could do better?"

"Indubitably," Rei stated calmly. "Ikari-kun would not scare Batman away with loud, self-centered rants."

"WHAT! You little-Why I ought to-"

"ASUKA! Sit down. I have a headache," Misato groaned, holding her head. Ritsuko smiled slightly at that.

"Well, thank you for the food, Shinji. It was a pleasure. Maya? I expect to see you bright and early next morning… So don't stay up too late. We have the new synch data to work through." Maya blushed and giggled slightly.

"O-Okay, Sempai. I think I'll sleep _extra_ well tonight," she added, descending into giggles once more.

"Hang on Rits-chan. I'll walk you to the door," Misato objected, unsteadily getting to her feet and following the blonde to the door. Shinji grimaced. Though Maya and Rei's presence kept Asuka (who had stormed off, grumbling) off him, their new relationship was… Very awkward. Even _if_ they'd done… _That._

"Ikari-kun… Would you like me to take tonight's patrol for you?" Rei asked, breathing warmly in his ear. He froze, as Maya kissed his other ear.

"Yeah… Rei and I could… Trade off…" Shinji coughed, before slowly standing up.

"I really should… Be going. I'll be back, later tonight. You two should take the night off."

"Promise?" Maya implored. Rei also looked intently at Shinji.

"Promise. You two should get more rest anyway," Shinji noted, in the Batman's tone. Maya giggled, as Rei smiled ever so slightly.

"Oh? And why is that?"

"You'll see," Shinji smirked. Asuka's curse drew Rei and Maya's attention to the other entrance to the kitchen.

Standing in an elaborate red costume, Asuka grumbled as she pulled on a pair of night-vision goggles over her eyes.

"All right… I'm gonna get Batman tonight, and I can't wait to see the look on your face Baka Hen-Hey! Where'd Baka go!" Asuka snarled, looking about the kitchen. Maya and Rei exchanged knowing glances. Asuka harrumphed.

"Well, I'll just gloat to him in the morning." And with that, the self-dubbed Crimson Avenger departed out the door. Misato came back in, rubbing her forehead with a groan.

"Man… Even if she's not going to get Batman, I'm glad Asuka's out there at least," Misato opined. Rei raised an eyebrow.

"Why is that, Major Katsuragi?"

"Ritsuko says some creeps have been following her lately. If they were a real threat, Section 2 would have dealt with them by now, but still…" Misato shrugged. She then smiled at the two younger women.

"So! You two wanna watch a movie?"

"Sure! What kind?" Maya asked.

"Just your average, Pre-Impact romantic comedy. Up for it?" Misato grinned. Maya nodded enthusiastically.

"Indeed," Rei added, though internally she was considering that Shinji might want to know that Dr. Akagi hadsome safety concerns. While she didn't particularly like the faux blonde, she knew that Shinji cared about her. It was his open heartedness that had drawn her to the shy, quiet pilot of Unit 01. The fact that he was Batman did not change her feelings for him at all, except perhaps to intensify them. Though darker, more forceful, and certainly more confident, Batman was not a different personality of Shinji's.

Rather, it was another facet of him. A facet that made her feel warm in her heart… And some other places she hadn't really seen the use for until fairly recently. Her research material had aided her and Lt. Ibuki in providing Shinji-kun with a pleasurable, confidence-boosting night, as the Commander had prescribed.

_It did not seem as though he needed that much of a boost, however, t_he blue-haired girl thought to herself, smiling ever so slightly. The smile vanished as Misato pushed in a disk of a Pre-Impact movie, and the three women sat down on the couch to watch.

* * *

Shinji's thoughts were troubled, even as he vaulted and swung from roof to roof, ledge to ledge, high above the streets of Tokyo-3. His evening patrol routes were memorized, to the point where he could probably do it in his sleep. As it was, doing it while tangling with his personal demons was barely a challenge.

_Okay… Dad had Rei have sex with me, and Maya just… Kind of joined in. So… Is sex just something to do? I always thought it… Meant something. _Shinji sighed. He cared deeply for both Maya and Rei - But having sex with both of them, though easily one of the best experiences ever in his life, left him confused. Was he just another tool for his father? Was he giving him a 'tune-up', as it were?

_Ew. Note to self: Never use tune-up in reference to sex again, _he thought, before the sounds of a collision deep below him in the streets broke his reverie. He looked down and saw a strikingly familiar car, being smashed and rammed by two foreign BMWs. He scowled.

"Why are you always getting in trouble, Dr. Akagi?" He muttered, pulling a rip cord on his costume. A moment later, bat-shaped glider wings spread out from his cape, while control vanes popped out from either side of the hidden harness. Batman leapt from the top of the building, and surfed the air streams, following the car chase.

* * *

Ritsuko cursed to herself as the car flanking her right side rammed her again, her much smaller coupe skidding and nearly going out of control. The car behind her smashed again, sending her forward and hitting her head on the steering wheel.

"FUCK! Where the hell is Section 2!" Her only answer was another crash to the rear, sending her plowing through a railing and down a steep hill. She cried out as she came to a shuddering stop into one of the park's trees, and screamed when the air bag smasked her in the face.

"Guh…" Dazedly, she pushed open her door and stumbled out of the car. She fell to her knees, feeling blood running down her chin from her mouth and nose. Vaguely, she heard footsteps approaching.

_Oh God… _Resolutely, she looked up. A man roughly grabbed her and shoved her back into her car. He grinned.

"Sorry lady, but you're just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"As are you," growled a familiar voice. A dark figure fell from above, downing two of the men in one blow. He turned and threw something into the eyes of the other men closing on Ritsuko's car, before large clouds of choking gas exploded between the men and Batman. The vigilante grabbed Ritsuko, hefted her out of her car, and started running as the coughing and sputtering men forced their way through the cloud.

_RATATATATATA-BOOM! _Ritsuko's car exploded into a fireball behind them, as the men opened up with assault rifles. Batman dove behind a tree, pulling Ritsuko with him as the ground spat at them from bullet hits.

"AAAIIIIIEEEE!" Ritsuko cried out, gripping Batman tightly. The caped crusader coughed slightly, before producing a set of small spheres from his utility belt. He threw them out from behind the tree, where they exploded into blinding flashes of light.

The cries of their assailants at their burning sight proved a more than able distraction, as Batman led Ritsuko away. They stopped just within sight of an apartment building. Ritsuko looked over at Batman.

"What are-?" Batman produced his grapple gun, fired it, and the zip line penetrated the side of the building with a muffled click. Batman looked over at Ritsuko expectantly.

"Oh no… I'm not getting on-Hey!" Batman simply grabbed Ritsuko around the waist, pulling her to him, as he hit the auto-wench. The false blonde groaned in fear, holding tightly on to Batman, as they ascended.

"Oh, I don't like this… I don't like this…" She muttered, as they swung away.

"Don't worry… I won't let you fall," Batman said quietly to Ritsuko. They landed on a roof nearby, Batman gently setting the doctor down. The blonde, shaking slightly, dazedly kissed the Dark Knight on the lips. Batman's opaque eye covers widened.

"What was-"

"For… Saving my life… Again," Ritsuko shrugged, suddenly sheepish. Batman was still for a few moments, before nodding.

"… It's my job."

"You do a good one." The sounds of gunfire emerged from the park they'd just escaped. Batman turned, before looking over his shoulder at Ritsuko.

"Go home. I'll take care of this." And with that, the Batman vanished into the night, leaving a flushed Dr. Akagi behind.

_Great. First I help some wacko take over the world just to be his punching bag and whore, then I destroy my morals by playing God, and now I'm in love with Batman!_

Ritsuko considered that last part.

_Well, maybe that's not so bad…

* * *

_

Asuka sighed angrily, stalking the rooftops of an apartment complex near the local park. She'd been searching for hours now, and still, no sign of Batman. She was sure her extensive training was up to the challenge-What wasn't? And yet…

Asuka paused and looked down at the street below. A thuggish-looking man was taking a crowbar to a parked car, while a few of his buddies looked on. Asuka smirked.

"Target practice," she murmured, pulling out a grapnel line and securing it to an outcropping on the roof. The Crimson Avenger repelled down the side of the blocky complex, silently landing on the pavement below and ducking behind another parked car.

She then vaulted over the car's hood, and rushed the first thug she could see. A punch with her brass knuckles took him down, as he fellow hoods turned at the attack.

"This just isn't your night, huh _bakas?"_ Asuka sneered, blocking the clumsy attack by another thug and pitching him to the hard pavement with a thud. She lashed out with a round-house kick at a third, who ducked and pulled a gun.

_BANG!_ Asuka couldn't help but cry out as the bullet clipped her shoulder. The thug raised his weapon and aimed her her chest, even as Asuka tried to grab it away. It was just too far…

The gun was knocked away by a projectile, leaving the gunman to curse angrily. Asuka punched him out, and turned to face the final goon…

Only to see Batman standing over him, his eyes boring into her own. She gulped and involuntarily stepped backwards.

"Do you realize that you nearly got killed tonight?" Batman asked in a cold, hard voice. Asuka drew herself up.

"I could handle it-" She felt blows to her stomach, solar plexus, and shins, but didn't see them. She collapsed on the hard pavement, the wind knocked out of her, desperately trying to gasp for breath. Asuka looked up at Batman in disbelief.

"No. You can't," Batman said flatly. Bending down, his tone softened a bit.

"You're already saving the world. So keep to your job, and I'll keep to mine. Clear?" Asuka tried to summon an angry word, but Batman's fierce glare gave her pause. She managed a breath and got out a curt, "asshole." Batman's lip twitched.

"I'll take that as a yes," the vigilante stated dryly, before firing his jumpline and ascending into the night. Asuka glared after him, and got to her feet.

"_Fucking pointy-eared bastard!"_

_

* * *

_

Shinji sighed, rubbing his face sleepily in the entry plug.

"_Hey Shinji, you okay? You look pretty tired… Long night?" _Asked Maya over the comm. Shinji shook his head.

"Didn't get much sleep… Sorry…"

"_It's all right, Shinji. Just focus and we'll have you out of here soon, okay sweetie?_" Shinji blinked awkwardly. Ritsuko Akagi was smiling-Genuinely smiling-At him in the control room. He nodded, finding himself smiling back.

"Ah… Sure… Thanks." Ritsuko winked at him, before the holoscreen vanished. Shinji raised an eyebrow, before another holowindow opened. Rei stared at him from her own entry plug.

"_Ikari-kun. Are you allright?_" Rei used a special sign language they had developed to convey **_Dr. Akagi is far happier and gentler than she has ever been. Do you know why?_**

"Yes. I'm allright… Just tossed and turned a lot."

_**Not sure. She was this way when I rescued her last night.**_

"Yes. I saw, Ikari-kun." Rei smiled slightly at this, as Shinji flushed. From the control room, Misato leered and made cat calls. **_You moaned her name in your sleep, along with mine and Maya's._**

"Ah… Well… Yes… Ummm… Rei-chan, I just wanted to say…" **_Does that bother you, Rei-chan?_**

"I love you too, Ikari-kun," Rei smiled, as the control room went silent in shock. **_No, it does not. I want you to share your love with everyone who has love for you. Dr Akagi will more than welcome your love, just as I and Maya have._**

"I know… I love you too," Shinji murmured back with a shy smile. **_Just one problem with that, Rei-chan._**

"Allright, Enough you two love birds," laughed Ritsuko. "We've still got work to do, okay?" Rei nodded, before signing to Shinji **_What is it?._**

"Hai, Ritsuko-san," Shinji replied. **_If you're right, then I think that Ritsuko's in love with Batman._**

**_That is difficult,_** Rei admitted.

"ENOUGH, YOU IDIOTS! I'm fucking EXHAUSTED, all I want to do is go home and SLEEP! SO LET'S GET THIS OVER WITH!" Shrieked Asuka.

"All right, all right! Sheesh!" Shinji growled. **_What a bitch! Do you want me to share my love with her too?_**

"There is no need for such outbursts, Second Child," Rei admonished. **_It might make her less agitated._**

"SHUT UP, WONDERGIRL! While _you_ were off fucking Baka here, _I _was out fighting Batman! So don't give me any lip!"

"Hmph," Rei grunted. Shinji rolled his eyes. **_Somehow, I doubt it._**

**Indeed**.

* * *

"Damnit! Those incompetent…" Gendo Ikari smashed the holographic projector on his desk to shards, snarling impotently. Fuyutsuki discretely backed away from the seething commander.

"They were _supposed_ to capture _Batman!_ Sensei, _when_ did incompetence become a prerequisite of hired muscle?" Gendo growled, his teeth grinding. Fuyutsuki sighed.

"Perhaps, Ikari, hiring common thugs off the street was not a good idea." Fuyutsuki turned to the large monitor on the far wall, currently showing the thugs being led away, after the police cornered them in the park. Some further help from Batman enabled the police to capture them all.

"It seems that I've underestimated Batman… Again. I thought that Ritsuko would be more of a hindrance than I thought. However, he is clearly far stronger and more resourceful than I gave him credit for." Gendo stood and walked over to a hidden door. He pressed a code into a number pad, and the door opened. He entered, as Fuyutsuki shook his head and stepped to outside the secret room.

"Ikari, your obsession with Batman will only sidetrack you from your true goals. Why not simply leave him alone?"

"Because, Sensei… Sooner or later, Batman will learn everything about Instrumentality… And he _will_ attempt to stop us. And, there is a significant chance that he will succeed. I am not going to let my dreams be destroyed by one man." Ikari appeared in the doorway, as Fuyutsuki gasped. Gendo's face was a determined glare, before he slipped on a face-fitting white mask, with green hair and painted lips. Gendo inserted plastic braces into his mouth, giving his usually grim visage a disturbing smile. He then inserted a small chip into the back of his throat. After his choking died down, he spoke in a much higher-pitched tone.

"Aaa eee ouu iie oh… Greetings, Tokyo-3! Your old Uncle Joker here! Yes, it's been _quite_ a while since I gave any of you smiles, but with Bat Breath wandering around at night I thought you all could _use _some laughs! HAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!"

Fuyutsuki stared in horror at this Clown Prince of Crime, brought into the world by the same madman who had brought about the Second Impact. He felt sick.

"Come, Sub-Commander! We have a rat with wings to exterminate! Get the rubber chicken! HAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!"

* * *

**Now, as for why Batman was so harsh with Asuka? Shinji doesn't want any more Eva pilots out on the streets. He admires Asuka's piloting, and thus feels that she should keep to that. His responsibilities, however, are divided between Eva and Justice. And he would prefer to not let Tokyo-3 be unguarded in the event of an Angel attack, and Batman and Batgirl are both incapacitated. **


	7. Siete

**Yes, I know I owe you guys a chapter. Here it is, then.

* * *

**

Shinji trusted his instincts. Like his body and mind, he'd honed his natural feelings into almost a kind of sixth sense about the world around him. It had saved his life on many an occasion as Batman.

And right now, he was getting a vibe while sitting in the uncomfortable chair in Dr. Akagi's office that he should prepare for the fight of his life, with the way the blonde doctor was eying him across the desk.

"Shinji," she began. "I'm going to skip the bull and get right to the point, all right?" Shinji nodded slightly. Ritsuko took a deep breath.

"I know… It's you. I know what you've been doing. And… I want it to stop." Ritsuko flushed slightly. "It's… Very flattering… In a strange way… And I know that, you, being you… Have certain… Needs, shall we say?" Shinji blinked awkwardly. Not having as much experience reading women as reading men, he decided to assume the worst.

"I see…" Shinji stood up, and assumed the posture he took when he became Batman. Ritsuko kept her eyes locked with his.

"How did you figure it out?"

"It… Wasn't hard," Ritsuko shrugged. "When you and Misato and the others have been over at my place… Well…"

"Ah," Shinji nodded. He assumed she'd noticed him when he'd gone off to stop a bank heist the TV had reported over dinner. He'd thought someone had been watching him change, but he hadn't been sure. Now he was.

"I know… What I do seems strange… Even foolhardy, sometimes," Shinji began, mindful of the surveillance on this particular room. "I know it could badly affect our relationship and do a lot of harm if it came out."

Ritsuko nodded, also feeling a bit confused. _Are we talking about the same thing here?_

"But… It's something I have to do. I made a promise, and I chose to keep it. My choice." Shinji sighed. "It's a heavy burden. It's a tough responsibility. And I know every time I do it I might not make it back home the next day." Shinji's eyes narrowed in determination.

"But, I _have _to do it. To redeem myself, in my eyes, if no one else's."

Ritsuko stared at Shinji blankly. Shinji stayed silent.

"… Well… That's… An interesting… Way to describe… Stealing my panties," she trailed off, red faced. Shinji's face turned scarlet.

_Oh. THAT'S what she was talking about… Oh great._

"Er… I… Um…" _I am Batman. Batman DOES NOT get tongue tied!_

_Then what are you now? _A sardonic voice in the back of his head teased.

"What did you think I was talking about?" Ritsuko asked, blinking quizzically. Shinji smiled sheepishly.

"Er… I thought you.. Might have thought that… I was… Batman?" He offered pathetically. Ritsuko stared at him for a moment… Before she began to chuckle. The chuckle became a laugh. The laugh grew into an all-out guffaw.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" She finally settled into some giggles as she sought to keep herself calm.

"Ah… Sorry, Shinji… It's just… I haven't laughed so hard in _ages,_" the blonde confessed, smiling at him. "Thank you for such a wonderful joke." She got up, circled the desk, and kissed Shinji on the cheek, before she turned and headed out the door. Shinji stood there, looking shocked.

"… Um… Sure…"

* * *

Touji Suzuhara whistled a cheerful tune as he walked down the hospital corridor. His sister's condition was looking better every day, and soon she'd be able to start her physical therapy towards walking again, just in time for her birthday. Not to mention that Hikari had finally agreed to go out with him, and that Kensuke's recording of Batman saving them had made them both rich.

"It's a frigging beautiful day," he grinned, as he reached his sister's room.

At that moment, however, he was violently shoved aside and to the floor. He hit with an "oof!", and turned his head to look balefully at whoever had knocked him over.

"Hey pal, watch where you're going!" The man was dressed like a doctor… With white skin, green hair, and red lips twisted in a maniacal smile. He looked down at Touji with a leer.

"Oh, sorry dear boy. Let me give you something for the pain, shall we?" He produced an oversized mallet, which he used to _whack!_ the athlete cold with. Laughing manically, the clown doctor entered Mari Suzuhara's room, a few additional men and women dressed as clown nurses following. A few moments later, a delighted Mari Suzuhara was being wheeled out of the hospital room in a festive wheelchair, being pushed by a grinning, laughing Joker (or 'Dr. Laffo' as his nametag read). The rest of the circus entourage followed, carrying balloon animals and other clown paraphernalia. The nurses and patients in the corridor watched, smiling as Dr. Laffo and his gang threw confetti, blew party horns, and made a gay spectacle of themselves.

"HAAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA! So, Mari my dear! What would you like for your extra special birthday surprise, hm?"

"Oh! I've always wanted to see NERV… Oh! And Batman! Batman saved me!" The little girl said excitedly. The Joker laughed manically.

"Why of course, my dear! Anything for you! If you want to go to NERV, and meet Batman, you will! And so will I! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!"

* * *

Shinji smiled slightly as he carried the brightly-wrapped package in his hands. He was looking forward to giving Mari her birthday present, and actually seeing her. She had such life and brilliance in her, that warmed his heart whenever he saw her. She called him her hero.

Well, technically, Batman had saved her from the collapsing building. And Shinji Ikari had gotten her injured in his first battle against the Angels. But she adored both of his identities.

_Even if I didn't get into this gig for gratitude… It's nice to get it every now and then, _he considered, smiling. He started across the crosswalk, less than one block from the hospital, before a loud siren drew his eyes to the right.

An ambulance with a clown face attached barreled toward him, lights and klaxons blaring. Acting entirely on instinct, he leaped up, landed on the hood of the vehicle, and leapt again onto the top of the ambulance. He tumbled before landing behind the vehicle in a judo crouch, the present dangling from his teeth.

"Woah!" Shouted an onlooker, whom Shinji ignored. He watched the ambulance recklessly scream away. He frowned, then shrugged.

_The police will stop the joy riders, _he thought simply._ Right now, I've got a package to deliver._

A small voice in the back of his head whispered that something was definitely wrong about that ambulance and that he'd better pay attention, but he ignored it. No Batman today. This was Mari's day. Batman would just have to wait.

* * *

The tiny voice in the back of his head was now screaming, as he found Touji being wheeled away on a gurney, an oxygen mask over his face as anxious doctors and nurses pushed him towards the ER.

"Doctor! Doctor! What's going on!" Shinji shouted, shuffling in and running alongside Touji's gurney. The prostrate athlete's eyes widened at his face, and he struggled to say something through the mask.

"Sorry son, he's got a ruptured diaphragm, we need to operate _now_," one of the doctors exclaimed, trying to push Shinji away. Touji's long arm shot out and grabbed him by the collar, as his other hand pulled off his mask.

"He's… Got… Mari," he gasped. "He's got her… Stop…" The mask was forced back on, against Touji's weakening resistance, as he finally let go of Shinji and left him standing outside the swinging-closed OR doors. The young man stared after his friend, before turning, adopting the determined gait of another man.

He'd reached the lobby when the news broadcast on the TV was interrupted by a hideous, grinning face.

"_HELLO, Tokyo-3! Uncle Joker here! Today's a special day, for all of you, and Mari Suzuhara here!"_ Cackled the mad clown.

Shinji's eyes widened. Joker was standing in the Commander's office of NERV. His father was nowhere to be found. In fact the whole office looked as though his father had never existed-It was brightly decorated with streamers, balloons, and grinning clowns. Mari Suzuhara was seated in his father's seat, a large birthday cake before her smiling face.

"_So, Mari dear, what would you like for your special day, more than anything?" _Joker pressed, his grin widening. Mari smiled innocently.

"_I would like, more than anything… To see Batman so I can thank him for saving me!"_ Mari enthused. Joker gasped theatrically.

"_Well then, we'll just have to get Batman here for you! I'm sure you're watching, Batman, so here's what you do. You come here to NERV, and join us in our lovely party, or…"_ The Joker cocked a thumb at the clock imbedded in the cake itself. A number of wires were connected to the clock from the large, red candles.

"_You'll miss the best surprise of all! HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAAA! Hurry up, Batman! You wouldn't want to disappoint us, would you?"_

"Man, that clown's one sick bastard," muttered one of the doctors in the waiting area, "huh kid-Kid?"

Outside, the Batman stood on the sidewalk, holding out a remote control. A few moments later, the sleek, powerful Batmobile screeched to a halt in front of him. He jumped into the cockpit and roared off, the powerful turbofan engine of the vigilante vehicle roaring to life as he sped for NERV.

* * *

**Cliffhanger! MWAHAHAHAHA! R&R! Or you'll never see another chapter again!**


	8. Ocho

**Finally! Here's the confrontation between Gendo Ikari and Shinji Ikari that we all wanted to see… But never got to, because Hideki Anno is a sadistic bastard. But that's okay.

* * *

**

Shinji was really in a fix now. His computer link to the MAGI confirmed that the entire Geofront had been put into Lockdown Mode. That meant that no one without the proper codes could so much as open a maintenance hatch without the correct fractal code sequence. His own supercomputers back in the Cave weren't powerful enough to take on even one MAGI, much less three.

Even worse, Rei and Maya were in NERV. Rei for tests, and Maya for her job. He would be on his own this time.

_No different from before, _he reminded himself as the Batmobile roared through the city streets. He came to a stop at the Tokyo-3 Municipal Center in the downtown area. He double-checked the map on the Batmobile's computer screen, before jumping out amid surprised onlookers. Quickly, he hit his utility belt control that locked the Batmobile up securely, before he ran to the side of the large building. He plugged his palmtop computer into a panel of the massive locks that kept the skyscraper from plummeting down into the Geofront, and began the number crunching.

"C'mon… C'mon…" The Lockdown had sealed off the entrances for people and vehicles…

_CHUNK! CHUNK! CHUNK! CHUNK! CHUNK! _The lock before Batman disengaged, finally opening. Down below, in between the electromagnetic supports, was a clear path all the way down into the Geofront. Shinji smirked, as he threw a grapnel around a light pole, and began to repel down through the space between the locks, completely ignoring the growing crowd of spectators.

* * *

"Oh my… It appears Batman has discovered a way into the Geofront!" The Joker gasped dramatically, at the scene on his holoscreen in the commandeered office of Gendo Ikari. The mad clown grinned.

"We'll just have to reward his ingenuity, won't we Mari dear?" The little girl, unaware of the danger she and the city was in, merely smiled happily.

"Like… With a present?"

"Of course! The present… Of an entire building! Just for him! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" The Joker pressed a single button on his desk, and above them, the rest of the locks for the building Batman had chosen to make his entry into NERV came undone.

* * *

The Dark Knight did not freeze when he heard the distinct sound of the other locks of the skyscraper opening. He let go of the rope and fell the rest of the way down through the armor plating between the surface and the Geofront, just as the skyscraper began to slide down like a thousand freight trains roaring down a single tunnel. He fired a zipline and swung away before the hundreds of thousands of tons of concrete, steel and glass could splatter him like a bug on a windshield. He flew then, high over the wide green fields of the Geofront, his zipline the only string this Peter Pan needed to stay in the air.

He then noticed that the ground was getting a lot closer, a lot faster than it should have been. He looked up. He wished he hadn't.

"Damnit." The rest of the skyscrapers were now coming down. Shinji fired a second zipline to the top (or bottom, it depended upon your point of view) of the first skyscaper to drop down on his head, and swung even lower. He ignored the near-deafening sounds of an entire city descending under the ground, as he focused on a single, white pyramid far below.

Batman's eyes narrowed. He switched to the linear jumpline launcher-The one that fired a line from the back and the front, allowing him to slide to a target, rather than swing to one on a zipline and a grapnel. He fired it at the pyramid, and soon zipped down the high-tensile wire at high speed. Dangerous speed, even.

Shinji fried a de-cel line, just a few moments too late, as the large windows of Gendo Ikari's office came into view. Batman braced himself.

_SKRASH! _The Dark Knight came through the glass, rolling and slapping his hands on the floor to get rid of potentially lethal momentum, before shooting up into a fighting stance.

No one was in the office, save a tied and gagged Fuyutsuki. Batman frowned, before going over to the Sub-Commander and undoing the brightly colored ribbon gagging the old man.

"Thank God," gasped Fuyutsuki. "He's gone to the Eva cages… He has the girl…"

Batman flew out the door, leaving Fuyutsuki wriggling on the floor.

"Hey! HEY! What about me?"

Batman ducked back in, produced a batarang, swiftly cut the old man free from the ropes and ribbons, and ran back out as fast as he could. Fuyutsuki rubbed his wrists, smiling wryly.

"Always in a hurry… Like his father…" Fuyutsuki shook his head again and sighed. As much as he disliked the senior Ikari, he hoped that both father and son would emerge from this battle alive.

* * *

"Well folks, it seems that Batman is going to make it after all," the Joker crooned sadistically. His ever-present grin widened. Above him, the usually-grim visage of Eva Unit 01 was now made up with Groucho Marx glasses, large enough to fit over the bio-mech's massive face.

"Too bad it won't matter though, huh kiddies? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!" Mari Suzuhara, gagged with her party hat, thrashed violently in the ropes binding her to her cake, with the dynamite candles already lit. Joker cackled again and pranced about the doomed girl.

"Such a shame, that this birthday has to be your last, eh Mari dear? But, at least you're going out with a bang! HAAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAAAA…" The mad clown trailed off, and glared at his henchclowns. They stared back at him blankly.

"Laugh, damn you!" He snarled, drawing two comically oversized guns and pointing them at the shocked henchmen and women, who nervously laughed in response. The Joker, seemingly satisfied, put the guns away.

"It's always good to find material that works, isn't it folks? If humor doesn't do it, guns sure will! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA-OOF!" The camera was treated to the sight of a black blur slamming into the Joker, sending the Clown Prince of Crime sprawling across the catwalk, Batman looming dangerously over him.

"Guh… Batty! What a pleasant surprise! You don't know how long we've been waiting," Joker grinned. "GET 'IM!" The henchclowns moved as one, seemingly dog piling the Dark Knight, except for the blurred black figure that moved between and above and below them, landing punches and kicks and strikes in such fast succession he resembled a video on fast forward.

The Joker had taken refuge by the cake and Mari, and grinned as he held onto the oversized clock. "Guess we won't need this anymore, huh?" He threw it at Batman, which slammed into the back of his head and sent him to the deck, as the remaining conscious henchclowns roughly dragged him up to his feet and held him, even as he struggled, before the mad clown. Joker grinned devilishly, as he walked right up to Batman's face.

"Well Batsy… I'm sure you didn't expect this when you went to work today? Having the clock punch you! AHAHAHAHAHAHAAA! But now that you're here, let's take the time to get to _know_ each other better! We'll be good friends, I think, you and I!"

"Like I'd be friends with syphilis," Batman snarled back. Joker frowned, before laughing.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Syphilis! Good one, Bats! Looks like you DO have a sense of humor after all! SO… What will it be? Die with the fan girl when her cake goes KABLOOIE in about, oh… 63 seconds… Drown in the bakelite? Or have a fun time with my SmileX? What do you choose?"

"How about a nice kick to the head, clownie!" Shouted a furious feminine voice behind the Joker. He turned, and was met by the proclamation just made, from a violent-looking red head.

"NO BODY saves the day but ME, got it, you stupid grease paint bitch!" Asuka snarled, kicking the Joker hard in the stomach with every word. The mad clown gasped pathetically, as the henchmen, distracted, handily fell to a surprise attack by Batman.

The Dark Knight looked up at Asuka with a glare. "Stay out of this, Langley. You're too important to get killed in something like this."

"Oh bite me, Bat-freak," Asuka drawled. "Like this is _hard._"

_CRACK! _The red head went down to a rubber chicken in the face, as the Joker, wheezing but still grinning, got to his feet.

"HA! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA! Now, where were we, Batsy? A cheerful chat on the merits of a GOOD DISTRACTIONS!" Joker shoved the cake and Mari at Batman, before turning and running. Wasting no time, Batman put out the dynamite candles, undid Mari's bonds, before firing a zipline and swinging after the Joker. Mari gaped after the Dark Knight, before turning her head to the moaning Asuka.

"I never get to say thank you," the little girl sighed. "But, maybe I can help…"

She pulled herself over to the groaning redhead, and began checking her for serious injuries. Her time in the hospital had given her a basic rundown on how to do so, thanks to the paramedics who often stopped by to cheer her up.

* * *

The Joker rounded the bend and headed into Unit 00's pen, laughing all the way, even as Batman swung after him. This was turning out to be a blast! The most fun he'd had since taking Rei to a porno movie. That had been hilarious.

"HA AHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA-AUGH!" Joker felt a familiar boot slam into the back of his head, and he hit the deck once more. He felt his nose crack, and groaned, as Batman roughly pulled him up to his feet. He grabbed him by the collar and slammed him against the railing of the catwalk, snarling dangerously in his face.

"Allright, clown. Where did you stash Commander Ikari?"

"Why, he's right here! But you'll never guess where! AHAHAHAHAHAHA! And, speaking of stashing, perhaps you should be more worried about what I'VE got stashed, hm?" The Joker held out a hand, as Batman's eyes traced the movement. The Joker slipped a gun out of his left sleeve, and fired.

"GAH!" Shinji's head jerked violently from the point-blank shot, and slumped to the floor. The Joker wiped the blood streaming from his nose off, before grinning down at the prostrate Dark Knight.

"Aw, too bad, Bats! Guess you're just not like the original-Coming back from the dead when you least-ACK!" The apparently dead Batman had latched a hand onto the Joker's throat, as he grinned ferally.

"What were you saying, Smiley?" Batman slammed the Joker into the floor, using this momentum to get to his feet and pin the mad clown in a wrestling move. Joker thrashed about, viciously, gritting his white teeth. Though Shinji now had a HELL of a headache (the Kevlar-reinforced cowl had saved his life at the expense of his comfort), he smirked in triumph.

"There's no way out, Smiley. You're going down," Batman snarled. The Joker paused, before grinning wickedly.

"I don't think so, Batsy!" The clown's flower burst into a bright light, that sent Batman back, clutching his eyes. The Joker, however, was also blinded, and went tottering around the catwalk in a stagger, until…

"OH NOOOOOO…" Batman got up, and blinking through the spots on his vision, saw the Joker tumble off the catwalk and into the bakelite below. In a burst of speed, Batman rushed after him, jumping off and firing a zipline behind him, as he dove after the screaming clown…

But it was too late. The Joker splashed down into the cryogenic fluids below and vanished, as Batman dangled over the spot where he fell, his gauntlet still outreached to try and save the psychopath. Batman looked down mournfully, before hitting the autowench to ascend back to the catwalk.

Waiting at the top, looking astonished, was Ritsuko Akagi. Shinji suddenly felt exhausted-He'd been running on pure adrenaline since he saw the Joker's first broadcast. He walked, uneasily, into the doctor's open arms, trying to stay awake, trying to stay strong…

But the sight of his failure... Of the Joker falling into the bakelite... Remained, sapping him of his energy.

Ritsuko dragged the unconscious Batman away to a secret entrance only she knew of. She had to get him out of here before Section 2 finally got off their asses and began to secure NERV.

* * *

Shinji awoke to the feeling of a cool cloth rubbing his forehead. His _bare_ forehead.

"AHH!" A very feminine squeak of pain answered his grab for a thin wrist, as he opened his eyes. Maya stared down at him with wide eyes. He looked about. He was in the NERV infirmary… A number of his wounds had been treated… His head was bandaged…

"You're awake. That's good news," Ritsuko Akagi said, entering the small room with a warm smile. Shinji tried to stay calm. Even though he'd saved her life a number of times, would Ritsuko turn him into his father anyway?

"I know what you're thinking," the faux blonde spoke. She smiled warmly. "Don't worry… You can keep at it… Just be more careful with my… Shall we say… _assets?_" Her cat-like smirk brought a blush to Shinji's face, and a jealous look from Maya.

"Shinji-kun. I am glad you are all right," Rei interjected, as she entered the examination room and latched onto Shinji tightly, nuzzling his bare chest. "I was very worried when they said you had fallen down an escalator."

"Urgh… So was I," Shinji noted dryly, as Ritsuko and Maya winked at him. Asuka groaned as she staggered into the examination room as well, rubbing her bandaged head as well.

"Feh… Baka falls down the stairs and gets like that… I took on the Joker! Ha!" The three women tried very hard not to laugh, while Shinji sweat dropped.

"… What? What's so funny?" Asuka shook her head and muttered something in German, before Ritsuko escorted her back to her bed.

"Um, I think I should warn you, Shinji," Maya began hesitantly.

"Yes?"

"Misato's on her way from the command deck… She just heard you were injured-" Maya was distracted by a low noise, that began to grow exponentially. Shinji soon began to make out the sound distinctively, but by then it was too late.

"SHHHINNNNNNJJJJIIIIII-KUNNNNNN!" The purple-haired woman shrieked, in a potent mixture of joy and fear. Shinji also screamed-Mostly in fear-as Hurricane Katsuragi pounced on the hospital bed.

"AUGH! MISATO! PLEASE!"

"Major Misato! What the hell are you doing to Shinji!"

"Quit it, you drunken slut!"

"Major Misato, please desist…"

"Oh dear, ma'am! Ma'am! Please! Stop! Shinji needs his rest!"

* * *

Gendo Ikari rubbed the bridge of his nose, grumbling to himself, as he sat in his repaired office chair. Fuyutsuki, still sulking because of Gendo's performance as the Joker, sat elsewhere, rather than standing respectfully for his former student.

"I'm glad we had that secret escape hatch installed in the Eva cages," Gendo began, still rubbing his heavily bandaged broken nose.

"Did you HAVE to tie me up?" Fuyutsuki complained. Gendo gritted his teeth, stopped because of the pain, then sighed.

"For the last time, Sensei… YES. It was necessary. Appearances."

"And yet, you STILL failed to best Batman," Fuyutsuki pointed out. "What's the committee going to say about this?"

"They can say what they want," Gendo snarled. "Instrumentality will proceed on schedule. NOW NO MORE LIP! You know how Bakelite burns heal! THEY ITCH LIKE MAD!" Fuyutsuki stiffly stood up, walked over to his former student, produced a pair of oven mitts and duct tape, and applied them.

"There. Now you don't have to worry about scratching them," Fuyutsuki observed dryly, as Gendo shouted muffled expletives behind the duct tape applied to his mouth, and struggled against the bonds of duct tape around his wrists and hands. Fuyutsuki keyed in a request to the nurse on standby at the door, and had her wheel the fuming commander out to his limo and home. Fuyutsuki smirked-The nurse had a… Reputation. Hopefully, it would make up for Gendo's bad day and make his old student a bit happier when he came back to work next Friday after recovery from the Joker's attack.

Fuyutsuki looked around, then pulled up a holowindow of Shinji Ikari's hospital bed. The old man smirked at his unofficial 'godson', as the number of woman fawning over him grew. He shook his head.

"Like father… Like son…" At least in regards to women. Any more similarities and Fuyutsuki would have to kill himself. One Gendo Ikari was enough. Two was unthinkable…

* * *

**HOORAY! Sixth chapter complete! Now, remember to hit the button down on the left and leave a nice review! And feel free to offer suggestions to me about the future of this story. There's still a lot to cover!**

**Talon**


	9. Nueve

Man! Maybe being sick isn't so bad, huh? Now that I'm writing up a storm.

Now, in regards to the new Batman/Eva fic out now: I've become friends with it's creator and I personally look forward to more chapters of it. If it becomes as popular as my fic remains to be seen, but I hope all the readers of Bat Tales also look in on Crusade. It's good. Trust me. Despite the Shinji/Asuka-ness promised (gag).

Let me make this clear: I do not hate Asuka. I'm actually quite fond of her. But I just think that she and Shinji do not make a good couple and to tell the truth, there are too many Asuka/Shinji stories anyway. I just think that Shinji already has a love (coughReicough), and the fact that he and Asuka were at the End of Evangelion is irrelevant-For all we know, Rei could have come back up right after "This sucks."

I like the different facets of relationships in anime, because who knows who might have ended up with whom? I personally like Ritsuko/Shinji stories, because putting them together well is a challenge and a very interesting one at that. I like the unexpected in relationships. I'd love to see more Mana/Shinji, Misato/Shinji, Hikari/Shinji, or Maya/Shinji stories, myself, because I like the unexpected, the different. I like stories that make me go, "What _if_ that did really happen?"

Okay. Enough of the author's notes. I've kept them to a minimum during this series because I know YOU guys don't care-You want to read the story. So, I promise: Longest author note you're gonna get. Now, on with the story!

* * *

The heat today was nearly unbearable. The heat waves from the sun oozed back up off the pavement like burning oil smoke from a grill. Ritsuko groaned, and pulled her hat down over her eyes. She was sweating buckets. She REALLY regretted wearing silk this morning.

She finally came to the hidden, broken-down phone booth. She clicked the pen in her fingers twice. It made no other sounds. The doctor nodded to herself, before entering the phone booth and picking up the phone.

"Shinji? Are you there?" She asked quietly.

"_Urgh… Yes… Dial 1047."_

Ritsuko did so. She started slightly as the phone booth jolted her, and the broken glass panes and phone vanished into the grey tunnel she descended.

She found herself in a large, grey grotto. She blinked and studied her surroundings a bit more thoroughly. No, this was a man-made shelter… One of the abandoned ones after the Third Angel attack. This one had, mercifully, been unoccupied during the attack, but it had been logged as unusable and any further mention of it had vanished into the paperwork. She nodded in approval.

Clever.

Who would think to look for the Batcave in a place deemed unusable?

She stepped out and began walking, frowning a bit more. _Where am I supposed to…?_

"In here," croaked Shinji, from a hallway nearby. Ritsuko walked towards the sound, and soon saw light emitting from the entrance. She entered. She gasped.

"Shinji… What the hell did you do?" The Third Child, and Batman, smiled wryly, through a bloody nose, blackeye, numerous cuts and bruises, not to mention some ugly marks on his ribs and stomach.

"Drug bust. It… Didn't go as I planned," he noted.

"That's an understatement," Ritsuko shook her head as she sat down on the medical table next to him and ran a penlight over his eyes.

"No concussion, thank God… What the hell did you do?"

"Well… There were about… Fifty… Sixty guys?" Shinji shrugged, wincing slightly, as Ritsuko continued to check his injuries. "Like… The heads of two major crime families, at least. Maybe even three… They were getting ready to leave… I had to go right then, or I might have lost them all…"

"And so, you went against sixty armed gangsters all by yourself!" Ritsuko's eyes were wide. "YOU COULD HAVE BEEN KILLED!"

"Well… Yes…" Shinji shrugged. Ritsuko slapped him. "OW! Hey!"

"That… SHINJI IKARI… Was the dumbest thing you have EVER DONE!" Ritsuko stood up and towered over him, fairly red in rage. "What did you think about, huh? Did you stop to think about WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN IF YOU DID GET KILLED! HUH!"

Shinji, as Batman, was used to criminals screaming and ranting at him. Having his doctor, superior officer, and potential love interest rail at him like this was actually something new. Thus, he had no idea what he should do when regarded by an angry female. As himself, not the Shinji-Ikari-The-Wimp-Mask.

"Er… Um…"

"No… OF COURSE YOU DIDN'T!" Ritsuko shrieked, throwing her hands up and stalking out of the medical room. Shinji, awkwardly, followed her, grunting as he limped to the center of the cave, with the Batcomputer standing there. He saw Ritsuko stop short, staring blankly at the gigantic computer.

"Cray 18s. You'd be surprised at what you can find on Ebay," Shinji explained, focusing on his breathing to ease his pain like his sensei had instructed him. Ritsuko turned, frowning.

"The Cray series ended at 17."

"I took the 17s I could find, upgraded them with some MAGI tech, and, well…" Shinji shrugged. Ritsuko stared at him. He stared back.

"You used MAGI technology?" Ritsuko's voice was filled with wonder. She turned back to the computer, walking up to the control board and beginning to type. Shinji cringed. He didn't like anyone messing with his computer… It had taken him months to get everything right as it was.

"… Shinji, this is incredible," Ritsuko whispered. Shinji blinked.

"Huh?"

"You've flawlessly integrated the protein-based network of the Crays with the artificial neuron nets of the MAGI. They work in tandem. Perfect efficiency. Well… As close to perfect as we could make it, anyway." Ritsuko turned back to Shinji, amazement still written on her face.

"How did you do it?" Shinji coughed.

"I… Hacked your mother's notes." He paused. Ritsuko didn't respond, so Shinji continued. "I needed a computer system that I could use to get into NERV's mainframe without anyone noticing… And one that could, at least, stand up to one MAGI. Not to mention running the Car, the forensics laboratory, the medical equipment, the Plane, my satellites-"

"Satellites?" Ritsuko blinked. "Satellites!"

"Er, yes… I had them billed as normal communications sats for a dummy corporation I set up," Shinji shrugged. "This rocket company in Nevada put them into orbit for me. I've been using them to keep appraised of criminal activity over most of Japan." Ritsuko now approached Shinji, and soon stood only a foot from him. Shinji fidgeted.

"Shinji… FOR GOD'S SAKE!" Ritsuko shouted. "You're a FUCKING GENIUS! You could have made NERV run at THREE TIMES it's EFFICIENCY! ALREADY! You could be RUNNING NERV! I've seen your strategies! I've seen your inventions!" Ritsuko shook her head.

"And, to top it all off, you're OUR BEST PILOT! WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU WASTING ALL YOUR POTENTIAL ON… ON… ON BEING BATMAN! WHY!"

The cave was very quiet, then. Ritsuko breathed heavily, as Shinji stared at her. Then Shinji was gone, and the Bat appeared in his eyes.

"I am NOT wasting-"

"You're damn near our ONLY HOPE to survive the Angels, to save the world and keep us from going extinct, and YOU'RE worried about AVENGING YOUR AUNT AND UNCLE!" Ritsuko shuddered.

"You're so FUCKING SELFISH!" The blonde was sobbing now, falling to her knees and wrapping her arms around Shinji's waist. "So… Fucking… Selfish…" Shinji just stood there, positively frozen.

"Please… Shinji… If you get killed… As Batman… We are all doomed. ALL of us. The innocent and the criminal." Ritsuko raised her head up, her tears running down her cheeks in torrents. "Please… Put it aside. You do this for good… PLEASE… Put it down for the greater good. Put it down… For me? For Rei, Misato, Maya… Asuka… Please?" She pressed her face into his warm belly, sniffling softly.

"Please…"

Shinji didn't answer. At least, not verbally. He knelt down and took the sobbing woman in his arms, rubbing her back gently, trying to calm her and make sure she knew that he was here and wasn't going anywhere…

* * *

"You're _what?"_ Maya asked in disbelief. Shinji looked up from the main power switches for the cave, before pulling the first one. Click. The lights over the Batmobile went out, hiding the sleek, urban assault vehicle in darkness.

"Quitting. I've… Reassessed my priorities." Click. The lights over the sleek, new Batjet went out next.

"But… But the Joker-"

"The Joker is gone. And even if he wasn't… He's a criminal. The police are responsible for him." Click. The Batcomputer went dead, now a silent, lightless monolith in the growing shadows.

"They can't handle the Joker! Only _you _can! Only we can! Shinji-!" Click. The medical bay and maintenance areas vanished.

"Maya! The fate of _humanity_ is at stake." Shinji shook his head. "I should have given this up when I first became an Eva pilot. Ritsuko's right… I have been selfish. Being Batman… Doing all this… It's just another kind of running away. From my responsibilities."

"We're going to need _Batman_, just as much as we're going to need the Third Child! Please, Shinji!" Maya pleaded, reaching out for Shinji's hands. Shinji gently brushed her away, deactivating the backup generators and emergency lights. The direct link into NERV went next.

"Maya… I am needed to save this world. From the Angels." Shinji shook his head. "This… Is lunacy. Being Batman, when so much hinges on me…" Ikari shut down the last switch. The light over the costume vault, where the Bat-suit stood salient, now vanished. The cave was now completely dead. Shinji sighed.

"Maya… Isn't it better? To not risk my life every night, when I _really_ can't afford to? One of these days, you would have been hurt. Maybe even killed. Rei was in the same danger. Danger I put you in."

"We CHOSE to be put in danger, Shinji! We chose to! You didn't force us into it!" Maya argued, desperate.

The boy shook his head.

"Then I choose to end it before you get hurt. Before my grief causes us all to die." Shinji turned, walking to one of the hidden lifts.

"BATMAN!" Maya screamed, feeling panicky. Shinji didn't even turn back.

"My name is Shinji Ikari. Batman… Is dead." And with that, he left. Maya felt tears well up in her eyes.

She knew Shinji, a lot better than she thought she could have only a short time ago. He'd opened up to her, showed her the pain and anguish he carried, the courage and inner strength he possessed. His kindness, his love, his hope…

She felt herself falling for him. And she knew, that without Batman… Shinji would not feel whole. He'd put too much into Batman to stop now.

And, the worlds of Batman and the Evangelion were going to intersect. She knew it. Rei knew it. And without Batman, she didn't know if any of them would survive…

* * *

Rei was sitting on his bed, when Shinji got home and entered his room. He stared at her. She stared back.

"… You don't want me to be Batman anymore too, do you?" Rei stared back at him, not answering. Shinji sighed, closed the door behind him, and sat next to her.

"Shinji… You are always yourself. No matter what mask you wear or do not wear." She looked over at him. "You do not separate yourself from Batman when you are out of costume. Not completely. Just as Batman does not omit you completely when the circumstances are reversed." The blue-haired girl leaned her head against his chest, listening to his heartbeat. Shinji ran his fingers through her azure locks gently, stroking up and down her scalp.

"You are you, just as I am I. The costume makes no difference, save for a visual one."

"…"

"I know you feel, sometimes, that Shinji Ikari died when your uncle and aunt were murdered," continued Rei. "I too, sometimes feel dead from… Experiences in my past. But I am not. And you are not dead, either. You changed. As did I." She lifted her head up and looked directly into his eyes.

"Even without the costume… The cave… The weapons. You will always be Batman. And yet, you will always be Shinji." She kissed him gently, as Shinji returned the gesture.

I am not a doll. I will no longer listen to the Commander's orders. This is what you taught me, Shinji…

* * *

Slightly more serious chapter, but don't worry-The next will be less serious and more fun!

To tide you over until then: An omake!

OMAKE OMAKE OMAKE

* * *

"No… OF COURSE YOU DIDN'T!" Ritsuko shrieked, throwing her hands up and stalking out of the medical room. Shinji, awkwardly, followed her, grunting as he limped to the center of the cave, with the Batcomputer standing there. He saw Ritsuko stop short, staring blankly at the gigantic computer.

"Cray 18s. You'd be surprised at what you can find on Ebay," Shinji explained, focusing on his breathing to ease his pain like his sensei had instructed him. Ritsuko turned, frowning.

"The Cray series ended at 17."

"I took the 17s I could find, upgraded them with some MAGI tech, and, well…" Shinji shrugged. Ritsuko stared at him. He stared back.

"You used MAGI technology?" Ritsuko's voice was filled with wonder. She turned back to the computer, walking up to the control board and beginning to type. Shinji cringed. He didn't like anyone messing with his computer… It had taken him months to get everything right as it was.

"… Shinji, this is incredible," Ritsuko whispered. Shinji blinked.

"Huh?"

"You've flawlessly integrated the protein-based network of the Crays with the artificial neuron nets of the MAGI. They work in tandem. Perfect efficiency. Well… As close to perfect as we could make it, anyway." Ritsuko turned back to Shinji, amazement still written on her face.

"How did you do it?" Shinji coughed.

"I… Hacked your mother's notes." He paused. Ritsuko didn't respond, so Shinji continued. "I needed a computer system that I could use to get into NERV's mainframe without anyone noticing… And one that could, at least, stand up to one MAGI. Not to mention running the Car, the forensics laboratory, the medical equipment, the Plane, my satellites-"

"Satellites?" Ritsuko blinked. "Satellites!"

"Er, yes… I had them billed as normal communications sats for a dummy corporation I set up," Shinji shrugged. "This rocket company in Nevada put them into orbit for me. I've been using them to keep appraised of criminal activity over most of Japan." Ritsuko now approached Shinji, and soon stood only a foot from him. Shinji fidgeted. Ritsuko was breathing heavily, her cheeks red.

"… Something on my face?"

"Oh, God, Shinji," Ritsuko sighed. "You're… A genius."

"… Er… Thank you," Shinji coughed. He froze as Ritsuko traced a single finger across his bare chest.

What the-?

"I… I got into this line of work… Because, well… I am, literally… A technophile," she breathed. "I get aroused… Around… Intelligent men." She leaned forward and breathed in his ear.

"_Very, very aroused."_

In Shinji's mind…

A chibi version of himself stood on one side of a table. On the other side, a chibi-version of himself, clothed head-to-toe in Bat-armor, sat.

"We shouldn't… It wouldn't be right," began the chibi Shinji.

"Agreed. It would interfere with the mission. THE MISSION IS ALL THAT MATTERS," the Bat said loudly, slamming his fist on the table. Shinji jumped.

"Bullshit," came a chibi-Asuka angrily, sitting on another side of the table. "We need happiness to sustain ourselves. If there is no happiness, we all die, Bat-breath."

"The Mission will sustain us," the Bat argued.

"Illogical," A chibi-Rei spoke quietly. "Ikari-kun is human. As such, he requires human sustenance. Food, shelter, and love."

"The MISSION is all that Matters," the Bat said again. "All of you are irrelevant."

"If we turn her down, she will be injured," the chibi-Rei argued. "She is an innocent. You will not be allowed to harm her."

"Irrelevant. She is a tool. Part of the Mission. Use her but do not be distracted by her," the Bat said again. "I am the only relevant part of this life. The Mission is all that he is."

"… Is it?" Everyone else on the table turned and looked at the chibi-Shinji. He stood up, breathing deeply.

"YOU got the Joker killed," Chibi-Shinji snarled at the Bat, who looked taken aback. "YOU weren't good enough! You aren't perfect! Without Ikari, you are nothing! Nothing but the ravings of a lunatic! And if Ikari dies, you die. And Ikari needs love."

"… I am the Mission. I am ALL THAT THERE IS! HOW DARE YOU FORSAKE THE MISSION!" The Bat roared, smashing through the table and tackling the Chibi-Shinji.

"I'm-Not-forsaking-anything!" Chibi-Shinji snarled, punching and kicking the Bat back. "But I'm NOT going to be alone anymore! Not because of my father, or a couple of punks, and especially NOT BECAUSE OF YOU!" Chibi-Shinji them grabbed the shell-shocked Bat, and messily devoured him. Chibi-Asuka and Chibi-Rei stared at him as he gulped the Bat down.

"… Shinji? You… Okay?" Chibi-Asuka asked cautiously. Chibi-Shinji vanished into the shadows for a moment… Before remerging, in a chibi-version of his normal Batsuit.

"I am Batman… But I am also Shinji Ikari," Chibi-Batman said firmly. He then blew a raspberry. "So there."

Chibi-Asuka and Chibi-Rei sweat dropped.

Outside Shinji's twisted mind, he'd responded to the doctor's advances, and soon had her mewling happily atop the Batmobile. Which, some part of Shinji's mind noted, he'd have to get cleaned later.

For now, however, the Doctor and he were alone and happy bonking the daylights out of each other.

* * *

Some time later…

"Allright… Welcome to the first meeting of the 'I Slept With Shinji Ikari' club," Ritsuko noted blandly. Rei blinked at her, confused, while Maya looked miffed.

"Yes… Now. We're here to decide what to do."

"Ikari-kun is mine," Rei said flatly. "None of the rest of you may have him."

"Bull! He's mine, ice queen!" Maya snarled.

"He did have sex we me too, Maya," Ritsuko pointed out. She smirked. "It was… Wonderful…"

"Doesn't make him yours!"

"I'll make him mine SOON ENOUGH!"

The meeting soon descended into a furious cat fight. Misato walked in, looked around, and blinked.

"Huh… This isn't 'Reckless Drivers Anonymous'…"


	10. Dix

Well, took some time off, and I'm going to summer college. But oh well. It's life. Meh.

For those of you who don't know, Mana Kirishima is a character from the Evangelion video game _Girlfriend of Steel._ Apparently, she's supposed to be a clone of Rei and Asuka-What Rei and Asuka's child would look like if they could have one together. And the perfect spy for the JSSDF. And a mecha pilot. (shrug) Go figure.

Anyway, the disclaimer in the first chapter still stands: I don't own Evangelion or Batman, and I'm not making profit off this story. If I were, you wouldn't see me on this site. And there'd be a movie version of this and other of my fics in the works. And I'd be richer than God. Which is a weird phrase, considering God doesn't need money and doesn't even want it. (shrug)

* * *

Shinji felt his head hit a hard wooden floor, which was odd considering that the last time he'd checked, he'd been dancing on the moon with Rei to Frank Sinatra.

He then opened his eyes, and groaned as the morning light shone through a window.

"Oops… Sorry about that, Shinji," a girl's voice apologized. He felt himself be lifted up, slowly, as though he were being pulled up by a crane. The resistance against his wrists and the hardness at his back and under his legs told him he was tied to a chair.

Mana Kirishima stood sheepishly before him, a nine millimeter in her hand. Shinji quickly ran his eyes around the room. He was in some sort of cabin, probably remote considering the sparse furnishing. The air pressure was different-He was in the mountains.

And Mana Kirishima was his kidnapper.

"Why am I here, Mana?" He asked calmly. The redhead sighed.

"Orders. I'm to… Keep you out of the way." Shinji glared.

"For what? What are you doing, Mana?"

"I can't tell you… You'll find out later, Shinji." The spy shrugged slightly. "I am sorry about this, but… I didn't think you'd come quietly."

"No. I wouldn't have," Shinji said flatly. He let some of the hurt he was feeling out. "Mana… I thought you were my friend."

"I _am_ your friend, Shinji," Mana whispered. "That's why… I made sure you were out of the way."

"What's going to happen? A bomb? An attack?" Shinji pressed. Mana turned away and sighed deeply.

"I'm sorry. All I can say is that… No matter what happens, I'll be there for you, okay?" With that, the redhead turned and left the cabin. Shinji glowered.

Let's see… What do we have to work with here? Shinji tried shaking the chair. It was nailed down to the floor. He narrowed his eyes. He then realized he still had his watch on.

Ah ha…

It took a lot of hard knocks against the chair back, but the Third Child managed to break the glass on his old-fashioned analog watch. Gripping a shard of the broken glass, he went to work whittling away at his bonds, when Mana came back in with a few bottles of water and some containers of food.

"Sorry… I left some things where we were… Dropped off." She stared at Shinji, who slowed his fingers. Mana sighed and walked over to Shinji, kneeling down so that her eyes were level with his.

"I'm sorry about this, Shinji. I… I care about you. That's why I had to get you away. Away from the mess back in Tokyo-3."

"Mana… What's going to happen? I deserve to know, don't I?" Shinji pleaded, still carefully cutting away at his bonds. Mana sighed again.

"… Asuka and Rei are also being held somewhere safe, because… Well… The Japanese government doesn't trust NERV. I know, I know, it's run by your father and you're probably loyal to him-"

"Not really," Shinji said, entirely honest. Mana nodded.

"Then you understand why we're doing this? Your father… He's, well, too powerful. He's into a lot of bad things. He's had people murdered and killed." She shrugged. "We hoped that Batman would be able to handle him… But it's been a month since anyone's seen him. My superiors thought that Gendo had killed him."

"Maybe he did," Shinji shrugged, somewhat. It was hard when one was tied to a chair. But, that wouldn't be an issue for long. However, Shinji had to get as much intel as possible.

"So, my superiors decided that we would take over control of NERV. The pilots, we're keeping safe. The command staff…" Mana shrugged. She smiled encouragingly at him.

"Shinji, think about it. No more fighting on your own against the Angels! You'll have the support of the entire JSSDF! Whenever you want it! You'll have a commission, get paid, get your own home…" Mana blushed. "… me."

"What?" Shinji asked, genuinely shocked. She nodded.

"I… Like you, Shinji. A lot. And, well… I want to be with you." She moved her lips to Shinji's ear and whispered, "any way you want me to be with you."

Shinji gritted his teeth. Here was a major conflict of interest. On one hand? Yes, he wanted to be with Mana. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't attracted to her, physically, and personally. And his father gone would definitely make the world a better place, in his view.

However…

"What about… Misato? Ritsuko?" Mana breathed in his ear, making him shiver.

"Don't worry about them… They'll be just fine," she punctuated this remark by sucking on his earlobe. Shinji shook slightly, before willing his resolve.

"Mana… I can't… If you're going to kill innocent people to get my father-"

"It's the only way to do it," Mana sighed. "The security around your father? Impenetrable. Completely. It will be… Unfortunate." Mana caressed Shinji's cheek.

"But don't worry about them… Don't think about anything but-"

Mana slumped into Shinji's lap, his free fist hovering above her. Shinji took a deep breath, trying to focus and regain his calm.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly to her, as he picked her up and laid her on the single bed in the cabin. He kissed her forehead before heading out, taking her cell phone and dialing a special number. He then went outside to wait.

It wasn't thirty minutes before a black shape appeared over the horizon. Quickly, the Bat-plane approached, before coming to a near-silent hover near Shinji, and settling down on the ground with it's VTOL engines. Shinji approached the aircraft, faster, stealthier and more maneuverable than most military fighters. A panel opened on the side of it's sleek hull, from which Shinji removed a spare Batman suit.

"I thought I was done with this," he sighed. He shook his head, before quickly putting on the costume, jumping into the plane, and taking off.

Unbeknownst to the vigilante, a pair of wide green eyes had been watching him from the moment the strange plane landed. Mana narrowed her eyes.

"Batman, huh?" Her scowl turned into a sultry smile.

"I believe, Mr. Ikari, that you and I are going to have some good times," she whispered, her smile growing as the Batplane shrunk over the horizon.

* * *

"I still don't know how you talked me into this," grumbled Gendo Ikari, as a smirking Fuyutsuki followed his commander to the press conference through the hallways of NERV. The older man was resisting the urge to snicker.

"We do need some good press… And I thought you were in good spirits, considering you-know-who hasn't been seen in a month." Gendo sighed.

"Life seems infinitely boring without a worthy opponent," he commented philosophically. Fuyutsuki rolled his eyes.

"Okay okay, I'm glad the bastard's gone, allright?" Gendo harrumphed, before checking in a pocket mirror to make sure he looked especially menacing today. Then, he remembered that today he was not supposed to look menacing, and tried a smile.

Crack!

"Damn… That belonged to my wife, too," Gendo grumbled at the shattered mirror, tucking it into the inner pocket of his jacket. He then took a deep breath, tried a somewhat less evil-looking half smile, and marched into the press room.

He cursed the brightly flashing cameras mentally as he sat down in his usual position at the desk. Misato, Ritsuko, and Fuyutsuki were arranged around the desk as well. Gendo cleared his throat and spoke into the microphone, mindful of the cameras and intense eyes watching him.

Wait, what do I care about the media? I own it! With this cheering thought, Gendo began.

"People of Tokyo-3, Commander Ikari here. This press conference is to announce a new, public relations program that NERV is launching. Due to many questions, concerns, even fears about NERV and what we do, I felt it only prudent that we try to reach out to our public, the people we protect." Ikari rose, and went to stand near a table covered by a blue cloth. He glared at Misato, who looked half-asleep, Ritsuko, who looked bored, and Fuyutsuki, who looked fit to laugh himself to death.

"So, without further ado… I present to you, the people of Tokyo-3, the NERV merchandizing campaign kickoff!" Gendo dramatically pulled the cloth off the table. The reporters gasped. Gendo smiled, and picked up a cereal box with an Eva on it.

"Evangelion, the nutritious breakfast cereal!" He put this down and picked up a coloring book.

"Evangelion, the coloring book! Evangelion, the lunchbox! Evangelion, the toilet paper!" Gendo paused, looked at the roll of toilet paper with an image of Rei's emotionless face on it, and discretely threw it away.

"Forget that last one… Ah ha! Evangelion, the doll." He held up a super-deformed, plushy Rei that was smiling. The male reporters talked excitedly amongst themselves. Gendo revealed a Shinji plushy, which made many female reporters talking excitedly.

The plushy Asuka brought interest from both sexes, but Gendo decided to ignore that. He then picked up a model of Eva 01.

"Evangelion, the action figures! Now you too can join the battle against the Angels… In your imagination, of course, but who cares?" The commander of NERV, most feared man on the planet, held up an action figure of the Third Angel and made it fight Eva 01, complete with sound effects.

Misato and Ritsuko, by this point, were watching as though Gendo was sporting a tie-die Mohawk-in other words, gaping in shock. Fuyutsuki was laughing under the table.

"And, finally… Evangelion, the timed detonator." The audience began to talk excitedly, as Gendo held up the ticking time bomb. Gendo then paused and looked at it.

"Ahem…"

A loud shout of surprise came from the entrance to the press room, and Gendo shifted his attention away from the bomb in his hand just in time to see Batman rush for the stage. The reporters began to shout, as the Section 2 agents raised their weapons.

"Excuse me," Batman said flatly. He then shoved the Commander away and grabbed the bomb, quickly tying it to the rope of his grapnel gun. The reporters began to scream, as everyone began to move towards Batman. The vigilante pointed the grapnel gun at one of the skylights above and fired it. The bomb crashed through the glass, ascended a hundred feet into the air and curved over one side of the building, before it detonated loudly, making everyone in the pressroom fall to their knees.

Gendo got up, shaking slightly. He hadn't been that close to death in a while. Batman rose at the same time, as the reporters and other people in the room began to get up, their talking growing in intensity. Gendo and Batman stared each other down.

"You… Saved my life," Gendo observed. Batman snorted.

"You're on drugs if you think I did this for you."

"I'm going to find out who you are, you know. And when I do…" Gendo growled quietly. Batman smirked.

"Bring it on, Amish Boy." With that, Batman fired another zipline through the skylight, and winched himself up, just as the reporters began to yell.

"Batman! Please! Wait! Batman!"

"Batman, just a comment!"

"Batman, where have you been?"

"BATMAN!"

As the vigilante vanished, they turned their sights on Gendo.

"Commander Ikari, what is your relationship with Batman?"

"Was the attempt on your life just a publicity stunt?"

"Does Batman work for you?"

Gendo groaned silently. _I knew this was going to be a bad day…

* * *

_

Stay tuned for chapter 9! R&R!


	11. Once

****

This takes place during the battle with the Thirteenth Angel. So, keep that in mind, okay? The battles with the Eleventh and Twelfth Angels went basically like they did in the anime, only Shinji, with Rei and Asuka's help, was able to break free of the Twelfth's grip with a fiery exit that seemed to give his Evangelion the wings of a angel-Or, in his case, the wings of a bat.

----

__

Damn damn damn… Why can't my father give me a straight answer BEFORE we enter combat? Shinji mentally snarled, as he magnified the image of the warped Evangelion 03 stalking towards NERV. On the outside his gaze was determined, cool, and rational. Inside he felt like screaming in rage.

__

God damnit… Why did it have to be Touji? Why can't you alien freaks leave us alone?

"NERV Control to all units-Commence attack!" Commander Ikari ordered over the radio. Shinji gritted his teeth, and began moving forward.

"Shinji, we have to stay in formation!" Asuka protested. "That's an Eva!"

"Yeah, I know…" Shinji chewed over the information his sensors were giving him on the target. "Rei-chan? Can you tell if the pilot is still in the Eva?"

"It would appear so," Rei stated. "The entry plug is still inserted."

Shinji nodded. "Allright Asuka… How do we get him out of that thin without killing him?"

"Well… We can't get too close or we'll also be invaded," the redhead surmised. "So… Rei, start firing to it's left. We need to draw it to where we can hit it from multiple angles and disable it."

"Limit your targets to the legs and the arms," Shinji added. "Asuka, you're a better shot so you fire for disabling him. I'll move in closer and try to grab the plug."

"Confirmed. Move out!" Asuka ordered.

Commander Ikari, monitoring the communications between the Evas, frowned. In the sims and their most recent battle, the Third, Second and First had all been acting as a coordinated team. His field reports at their school indicated that the Second still tormented the Third, while the Third's growing relationship with Rei had apparently brought some strain to the school social structure.

All this should have indicated that, in combat, the three would begin to distrust each other and their effectiveness drop. In reality, it seemed as though the three dropped all their personal issues the minute they entered the Evas and became a single, fluid body.

This was causing some distress to the commander.

"Pilots, this is Command. You are to engage the Thirteenth and destroy it, is that clear?"

"_Sir, there's a pilot still inside. We have to at least try to rescue him!"_

"Your orders are to destroy the Angel, Pilot Sorhyu. That is all." Ikari's eyebrows shot up slightly when he saw all but one of the Evas begin to take heavy fire positions.

"Pilot Ikari, you are ordered to cease forward movement. That is an order."

There was a pause.

"_Sorry Command. You're breaking up. There maybe -scorch!- wrong with -screech!- equipment. Repeat -grrch!- Over?" _Commander Ikari's expression became annoyed.

"Pilot Ikari, disengage. That is a _direct_ order."

"_… Hello. You've reached Evangelion Unit Zero One. The pilot is not here at the moment. Please leave a message at the sound of the beep. Beeeep!"_

Fuyutsuki stifled a snicker. The rest of the bridge crew looked caught between astonishment and amusement. Ikari's expression became positively lethal.

"Cut the neural interface to the pilot of Zero one! Switch to the dummy plug system!" Maya Ibuki worked rapidly at her station, before gasping.

"Sir… The, uh… The Dummy System protocols are locked. It won't accept the commands."

"What! Who did that?" Ikari snarled. He turned to the holomonitor and glared as Unit 01 continued to approach Unit 03.

"Pilot Ikari, open fire! That is an order! If you disobey I will have you thrown into the brig!"

"_… Que? No habla japoneis. No comprende!"_

Unit Three leaped at Unit One, which skillfully grabbed the possessed Eva's arm and threw it into the ground using it's own momentum. The Eva quickly made a grab for the Angels' entry plug, before the Thirteenth smacked Unit One away as easily as it might a car. Unit One crashed into a stand of trees, as the Thirteenth scrambled after it, a predatory grin on it's deformed face. It howled in inhuman pain as Shinji kicked it in the face, swinging itself back up to it's feet.

"Lt Ibuki, we need the dummy system online. Now," Gendo snarled. This was _not_ going as the scenario dictated. Shinji lashed out with a Mawashi roundhouse kick, sending the possessed Unit 3 crashing to the ground once again. The 13th Angel rose and tackled Unit One, sending both tumbling down a mountainside.

"The Dummy Plug system still refuses to activate!" Maya warned.

"Keep trying!" Gendo roared.

"Unit One is forcing the target away from NERV!" Hyuuga added. "The umbilical cord is beginning to reach maximum length!"

"_I am in range,"_ Rei noted over the comm. Gendo, having focused entirely on Shinji's antics, at last saw that Units 00 and 02 had been moving to the other side of the valley.

Directly in line with where Unit 03 and 01 were grappling.

"_Shinji! Execute!"_ Asuka ordered.

"_Roger!"_ Unit 01 ducked and pulled it's umbilical cord taught around Unit 03. The Angel roared as it struggled against the elastic cord. It wouldn't last much longer than a few seconds at best…

But it was enough. The Angel's arms and ankles were blown off by the combined, accurate fire of Rei and Asuka. It writhed and roared on the ground, as Unit 01 stepped forward, reaching for the possessed Eva.

"The Dummy Plug system is online!" Announced Maya. Gendo nodded.

"Execute attack!" The Bridge Bunnies looked back curiously at Gendo.

"Sir?" Gendo glared down at them all, and Maya, reluctantly, pressed the command.

The Eva's eyes glowed brightly, before it lunged for Unit 03.

"_Huh? What the-Disengage! Disengage!"_ Shinji shouted frantically. "_Repeat, the target is down! Disengage!" _Gendo smirked, as Unit 01 began to tear 03 apart.

"Not so confident now, hm?" Gendo whispered to himself, as the Evangelion crushed Unit 3's entry plug. Shinji screamed loudly in anguish, as Asuka and Rei watched, both of them silent.

"The uh… Target has gone silent," Hyuuga noted quietly. The rest of the bridge was empty.

" Target pilot status?"

"… Gone." Maya murmured. Gendo nodded, hiding his smirk behind his fingers.

__

The scenario has resumed…

-----

"YOU BASTARD!" Shinji roared, grabbing for his father's neck with an unholy rage. Only the two Section 2 guards accompanying Gendo saved him from his furious son. Gendo looked coldly at the struggling Shinji, his eyes burning with hatred.

"YOU BASTARD! WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO THAT FOR!" Shinji bellowed. "I HATE YOU, YOU SON OF A BITCH! WHAT THE HELL WOULD MOM THINK OF YOU NOW, HUH? YOU'RE A MONSTER! A SICK PSYCHOPATH!"

The insults continued, as well as promises of death, as Gendo turned and coldly ordered the security agents to lock the Third up in the brig. The Commander turned, and felt astonished as Shinji began to break through the increasing number of guards that had to restrain him. Ikari's eyes widened as he started to recognize some of the moves his son was using.

__

It can't be… Shinji ducked as one agent tried to tackle him and pitched him into another guard, before deftly snapping the arm of another, quickly shoving an elbow into the face of yet another agent and smashing his nose. The fury in Shinji's eyes made Gendo back up in fear.

"You're dead," Shinji growled menacingly, as he moved with incredible speed for Gendo. At once, his eyes widened, and he slowed. He still snarled and reached for Gendo's neck… Before slumping against his father and dropping to the deck, unconscious.

"Sorry sir… We had to…" Panted a Section 2 guard on the floor, wincing as he braced himself against the wall. Gendo nodded curtly as still more guards appeared.

"Take him to solitary confinement. I want guards on him around the clock. A full body search as well." The guards dragged the slim form of the Third Child away, as Gendo adjusted his glasses. He frowned.

__

Why have I never seen it before? Why?

-----

"You've been staring at him for hours, Ikari," Fuyutsuki drank deep of his coffee mug, and continued boredly watching the holoscreen of Shinji's cell. At his desk, Gendo sipped deeply of his own coffee, his eyes never leaving the screen.

"He's Batman, sensei… I know it. I can see it." He shook his head. "How did I never see it before?" Fuyutsuki stiffened, before carefully guarding his body language.

"Perhaps you made a mistake. Lt. Ibuki says that the constant training and LCL exposure would result in increased strength and fighting ability for all pilots…" Ikari shook his head.

"No… No, this is too close. He fought like Batman. The same speed and tactics. The same deadly grace."

"But Batman doesn't kill, remember?" Fuyutsuki noted. "And your son seemed rather intent on killing you." Gendo managed to hide his shudder at the memory of the hate in his son's eyes. It was something he'd never seen before in Shinji's eyes, directed at him. Hope, anger, sorrow, shame-All of that, his son had shown him, but never such raw _anger._

"He is Batman. I know he is," Gendo reiterated.

"So, now what? You keep him locked up until the next Angel attack?" Fuyutsuki observed mildly. "If you don't do something, the next time he's in an Eva he's going to destroy this entire facility."

"No, he won't. He'd never attack innocents. That, Sensei, is Batman's greatest weakness. And our greatest strength." Gendo smirked. "It's all so clear to me now. The disappearances from Section 2, the fighting skills in his Eva… What other explanation is there?"

"That you're insane." Gendo turned and glared at the impudence of his second in command… Only to be met with frightened confusion. Both men stared at each other, and as one, turned around.

Standing in the open window, his cape fluttering in the wind, stood Batman. The Dark Knight stood salient as a statue. Gendo turned and looked back at the holoscreen, before looking back at Batman. Gendo then smirked.

"Who are you? One of Shinji's friends? Covering for him? It won't work…" Batman smirked. He stepped into the office, body language perfectly Batman. Gendo's smirk began to fade. He hit a button on his desk.

"Section 2, visual report on the Third and his friends." A silent moment passed.

"_The Third is in his cell. Our reports state that his friends are all at home. The other pilots are also where they are supposed to be."_Gendo gritted his teeth and regarded Batman cooly. Batman's smirk remained in place.

"I'm watching you, Ikari. I know all your dealings. I know all your crimes."

"What are you going to do? Testify? In that mask?" Gendo asked coldly. "You know how far I'm willing to go… How far are you?" Batman's smirk never wavered.

"Your bosses aren't very happy about what you've been up to. Give it a month… Perhaps two… And you're going to be in a world of hurt. And when you finally fall… I'll be there." A flash of bright light made Fuyutsuki and Gendo turn away. As Gendo expected, when they looked back, Batman had vanished. Gendo gritted his teeth and looked back at his son, still snug in his cell.

"… Damnit…"

-----

"Shinji. Shinji? Hello… Baka, wake up!"

"Nngh… It's too early for breakfast," Shinji complained, leaning over to one side of his snug, warm bed. It was then he realized that he was strapped down to his bed. Which was not warm, and not snug, but cold and metallic. He opened his eyes, and tilted his head slightly to the right.

"… Asuka? Rei?" Both girls stood on the other side of the super-thick glass that kept Shinji from the outside world. A guard kept a constant eye on them.

"You really have perfect timing, baka," Asuka sighed. She gave him an amazed look. "You actually tried to strangle the Commander?"

Shinji turned and looked up at the ceiling. Rei remained silent.

"Wow. I never though you'd have the guts." Asuka smiled in admiration. Shinji lifted his head in a form of constrained shrug.

"We had the Angel… We had Touji. And he still…" Shinji gritted his teeth and took a deep breath, focusing all his will to calm himself. Asuka looked to the side, looking uncharacteristically nervous.

"Well… Batman put the fear of God into him, so I don't think you'll be in here much longer. Besides, we need you to cook and clean at home…"

Shinji looked up and stared at Asuka, his gaze piercing and intense.

"What? Batman?" Rei nodded.

"He apparently appeared in the Commander's office last night." Rei's hands began moving in their specialized sign language. **Did you…?**

"Really, huh?" Shinji asked. He shook his head. Rei frowned.

"Yeah… Weird, huh?" Asuka asked. Rei continued: **It was not I or Miss Ibuki.**

"Check it out for me, please? I don't exactly get news in here," Shinji requested, giving a pointed look to Rei. Asuka shrugged and laughed.

"Hey, no sweat. Until another Angel shows up, I've got nothing better to do." Rei nodded simply.

"Allright, time is up," the guard said flatly. Asuka harrumphed and headed out, followed by Rei who gave Shinji a last, tender look. And so, Shinji resumed staring up at the ceiling, the gears in his mind spinning over this new mystery.

------

****

TBC…


	12. Doce

****

Sorry for the long wait. I've been working on my first original novel, and it hasn't exactly been easy. Whew! Oh well, maybe I can pass it off as a parody when I finally get it published. Anyway, here we go!

-----

__

Vanilla…

That was the impression Shinji Ikari received from the shapeless void around him. Swirling nothingness surrounded him for as far as he could see. He looked down and saw that he was naked. He then looked back up into the void he floated in.

__

I hate vanilla.

"Me too." Shinji blinked, and turned his head. Nothing but nothingness to his right. Shinji considered this, and turned his head to the left. Still nothing.

"Behind you." Shinji twisted around, spinning slowly as though in micro gravity. A beautiful woman, also naked, floated before him. Shinji's mouth dropped. He had seen her only in dreams, and in faint memories emphasized by great loss… But it was obvious who she was.

"… Mother?" The woman nodded, smiling gently, and held out her arms. Fighting back tears of joy, Shinji pushed forward, landing in his mother's warm, welcome embrace.

"Mother… It's you… Isn't it?" Shinji murmured through wet tears and his mother's bosom. The woman smiled and held him closer.

"Yes, Shinji… It's me. I'm sorry we've been apart for so long…"

"I… You're dead though, right?" Shinji asked, feeling like a lost child again, and not remotely near his nighttime persona. Yui shook her head.

"Then… Where is-?"

"I'm sorry, Shinji," Yui murmured quietly. "But you aren't dead. And, well, neither am I. We are inside Unit 01." Shinji blinked quizzically at her. Yui smiled sadly.

"You don't want to remember, do you?"

The young man stared into Yui's eyes, before sighing and looking away.

"No… I don't. I don't want to remember… Anything… I just want to be with you, Mother." Shinji turned to his mother again, emphatic.

"I… I… I guess, my crusade was for you, more than for my aunt and uncle. I… I hurt so bad… Your death took away… Everything. And I wanted to lash out at something… Anything…" Yui clutched her son more tightly, rubbing his head, cooing softly to try and comfort Shinji.

"I am very proud of you, Shinji." Shinji blinked, and looked up into his mother's face again.

"… How? Why?"

"You have not become your father… No matter how much loss or neglect you suffered, you never became him. Well… That isn't completely true," Yui allowed. Shinji stayed silent, waiting for his mother to collect herself.

"When I met your father… He was bright, ambitious, determined. His will would not be broken, no matter how many failures or set-backs we experienced. He kept me on the path, no matter how bleak things looked," Yui murmured. She sighed, running her fingers through Shinji's hair.

"Shinji… I have done some terrible things in my life. Unintentionally or not, I still shoulder the blame for… many things."

"Such as…?" Shinji pressed. Yui smiled sadly.

"Let me tell you about Misato's father, and Second Impact…"

Batman leapt easily from rooftop to rooftop, the grace of a cat in his every movement. Silently, he alighted to the edge of a high rise in downtown, and looked out upon the expanse of Tokyo-3. His eyes narrowed as he stood stock still, as a statue.

The devastation wrought by the latest battle with the Angels was still being cleaned up, even after two weeks of round-the-clock work. The Dark Knight snorted. NERV had prioritized it's own repairs before any other projects could begin, leaving the city without power or running water for days. It was atrocious.

"Hello, Ayanami," he spoke quietly, before turning around and gazing upon the black form of Batgirl. If she was surprised he knew her real name, Rei didn't show it. The First Child stared at the vigilante.

"Who are you?" She asked simply. Batman smirked.

"Batman, of course."

"You are not," Rei said firmly. Batman shrugged.

"I am. Believe what you will." Rei moved and had the imposter against an air-conditioning unit, her hand at his throat.

"You are not," she stated, in controlled fury. Batman smirked… Before flipping around so quickly that Rei gasped in surprise, finding herself now held against the AC unit with a hand to her throat. She attempted to struggle, but found herself trapped. Her eyes widened.

"Kaoru," she whispered. The Batman smiled slightly.

"Sister," he acknowledged, in a different voice. Rei blinked at him.

"You are not supposed to be here… Not yet… Why are you here?"

"The human, Shinji Ikari… He is most unique, isn't he?" He nodded thoughtfully. "You care for him, deeply. And yet, he does not know what you are."

"I have not told him," Rei said calmly. Kaoru smiled his strange smile again.

"I see… It is interesting, the power this costume conveys, isn't it? It's all in how you wear it, how you express your soul through it. Shinji Ikari… The Dark Knight, they call him. A champion of justice and life… And yet, alone in the darkness." Kaoru shrugged. "It is an interesting dichotomy, wouldn't you agree?"

"Why are you here?" Rei asked again flatly. Kaoru's gaze shifted up slightly.

"A certain… Acquaintance of Shinji's contacted me. She gave me some interesting insights into the Batman." Rei's heart froze. _Mana…_

"Yes," Kaoru nodded. "The spy with the green eyes. She cares deeply for Shinji as well. When I learned of Shinji's incarceration, I decided to help him. Fill in for him until he returns to guard his city once more."

"Is this a directive of SEELE?" Rei asked. Kaoru frowned.

"I have not heard from SEELE in quite some time. They no longer contact me. After their last meeting with Commander Ikari… They vanished." Rei blinked quizzically. Kaoru nodded.

"Things are different. The Path is diverging. There is something new, a new set of possibilities on the horizon. Shinji Ikari started the process."

"Your destiny is of an Angel, Kaoru," Rei protested. "Our destiny… It is set. It cannot change."

"It is already changing, every second," Kaoru countered. "The broken pane of glass… The two shots… All that it took to set this new path into motion. Sister… Do not forsake your feelings. They are one part of the puzzle." Kaoru leaned closer, causing Rei to blush slightly, as her "brother" whispered in her ear.

"He will be home soon… Be ready to welcome him."

And with a burst of light, Kaoru was gone, leaving Rei to stand like a gargoyle atop the skyscraper. The First Child, Batgirl, stepped out to the edge of the building, but she knew Kaoru was long gone. She could sense it. She looked up at the stars and sighed quietly.

"Shinji… What have you begun?"

-----

****

Next time: Asuka and Misato discuss recent events, while Shinji languishes inside Unit 01. Rei finds Mana, while Kaoru continues being the stand-in Batman. But what happened to SEELE? What is Gendo planning? And what is to become of Instrumentality now?

All this and more, in Neon Genesis Evangelion: Bat Tales! NERV's Belfry, Episode 11!


	13. Trece

**Long time, yes, I know. But I'll finish this fic if it kills me!**

… **Well, okay, not if it kills me _really…_**

**What?

* * *

**

"I… Father really did that? He really…?" Shinji shook his head, trying to grasp what his mother had been telling him, all with such a sad smile on her face. Yui nodded slightly, still holding him protectively to her breast.

"He sacrificed me, in order to get me back," she murmured. "The Eva will only run with a human soul powering it-And the more closely related to the soul the pilot is, the better the synch rate."

"He… That…" Shinji began to shake in rage, his teeth gritting. The vanilla purgatory around them began to darken as the tortured young man's soul flexed its strength. Yui ran her soft fingers over her son's back, calming, soothing. Shinji took a deep breath and sought his center, as he did in his frequent martial arts _katas_.

"I know, Shinji. I share your anger. To him, it did not matter if I disagreed with him about Eva. It did not matter to him that there was another path, another way… All he wanted was to be a God. And anything human was to be damned." Shinji looked up into his mother's eyes, blinking back angry tears he'd repressed for so long.

"What… What other path? What did you intend for Eva?"

"We were wrong," the scientist reemerged in Yui's voice, as the conclusions she had long ago come to came forth calmly. "Humanity has whole new worlds, whole new levels of existence waiting for it. Earth is only a nest, Shinji. It raised us, nurtured us, allowed humans to evolve to the point where we could finally understand the truth."

"What is the truth?" Shinji asked. Yui smiled lovingly at him.

"That we are not destined to die here, to end with God's creation on Judgement Day. We are to be God's seeds, going out into the Universe, joining all the other aspects of Creation together. Humans, unlike other animals, have a need to explain, to define, and to learn. It is our defining quality to know, not to hate or to kill. We need, desperately, to understand. And the only way to do that is by going to the stars. And Eva was supposed to allow us to reach the stars." Shinji blinked, silently considering the information. His eyes lit up.

"The AT field. The Absolute Terror field…" Yui smiled approvingly. Even will all his knowledge of criminals and fighting and deception, her previous statement was still proved correctly by the scientist in her son.

"Yes. Through the AT field, much like the Angels do, we can warp space. It would allow an Eva, at full power, to move faster than light. I envisioned a world where Evas would be flying demi-gods, carrying special structures for humans to move out into the rest of the Universe. They would be our beacons of hope, hope for a better tomorrow."

"But Father… He did not approve?" Shinji asked. Yui shook her head sadly.

"No. His lust for power, absolute power, overrode all other concerns. Even his own family," she growled. Shinji took a deep breath, before jumping in shock.

"ACK!" He flipped over his mother and landed… Well, _stopped_ some distance away. Of course, where the two where, distance and time were very much relative terms. Shinji turned and blinked at what had touched him in the back.

"Oh! Oh dear, Shinji, I'm sorry," Yui apologized. The tiny green… Blob sitting before her stayed still. "She was just curious about you."

"She?" Shinji asked, blinking. The blob seemed to shift, and Shinji was bombarded by emotions not quite his own. There was confusion, along with some kind of connection to him that couldn't be labeled, and a deep emotional bond between the blob and his mother. Shinji shook his head, gaping opening at the bizarre thing.

"This is the essence of Unit 01. You see… We didn't know at the time that Evas do have their own souls… Just not the kind of souls we're used to." Yui looked down with a smile at the tiny blob, which had wiggled up to her. Yui reached out a hand and stroked the soul, and Shinji got the strange impression that it was content in her company.

"Hers is not quite a human soul. She has emotions, naturally, and a concept of human feeling, but her mindset is completely new." The pilot's mother shook her head. "She's definitely female, I know that for sure, but she doesn't have, for example, a name like we do. She has a vague concept of self, but only really how it relates to me, and you, when you're connected to Unit 1."

"So, we… I mean, you created a new soul?" Shinji asked, full of awe. He moved closer to the soul of Unit 1, which gave him an impression of happiness in relation to him. Shinji was puzzled: She was happy just because he was, not because he was here, specifically. _Hm…_

"Inadvertently," Yui explained. "Emotionally, she's like a puppy dog, but her dependent self-awareness makes her kind of like a symbiotic creature. She has no interest in reproduction, eating, or personal entertainment. She is curious as far as it extends to you and me. And, of course, she has a protective instinct, but she doesn't know why." Yui sighed sadly, petting the soul.

"Sometimes I feel that she's… Half-done. That I've cursed her to be wholly dependent on others for everything, and that there are so many things she will miss out on. But, it is thanks to her form that my theory has been proven." Shinji assumed a half-lotus position, studying Unit 1 silently. Yui smiled slightly.

"How?" The boy asked.

"She has dreams; very big dreams. A very strong desire, nearing an instinct in its intensity. She wants—_needs—_to be among the stars. She gives the impression that they call to her all the time." Shinji started as the little soul floated up, only a centimeter or two from the tip of his nose. He gently ran a hand over her surface, marveling at the sensation of experiencing emotions by _touch._

"Yes… The stars… I can hear their song," he whispered, almost reverently. Yui smiled broadly.

"If only I could show your father this… Unit One's soul is a stripped down version of our own, and yet, the need to go to the stars has remained her strongest aspect. Even as we speak… She is finally taking the needed steps to make her dream real."

"What? How do you mean?" Shinji asked. Unit One's soul fairly glowed in joy, a joy that almost brought tears to Shinji's eyes. He thought he would never feel such emotion ever again. Yui, her own eyes glittering, smiled even wider.

"The power from the Angel she devoured… And the power of our two souls is giving her the needed energy to begin what _should_ have been the second stage of her development." Yui took a breath. "The Evangelions are part human, and part Angel, and all of them have this need to go to the stars. This need would have manifested itself by the Evangelion itself going through a metamorphosis, from a human-like form, to a form they themselves choose. The form that they feel will take them to answer the song."

"She's a gigantic butterfly!" Shinji gasped, as the soul glowed even brighter, being caught between pain and ecstasy. Yui, frowning, held his hand before putting her other hand on Unit One.

"Yes, Shinji. Please, help her? Help me? She can't do this alone…" Shinji blinked, took a deep breath, and placed his hand next to his mother's on the "skin" of Unit One, letting the words of one of his instructors from the past fill him.

"_Do not anticipate, Ikari-kun. Do not be tense. You must simply be."_

And so was Shinji.

* * *

"What? No beer this night?"

Misato looked up from her staring, snorted at Ritsuko, and turned back to watching the lifeless hulk that was Unit One through the reinforced glass. She pressed her face against the same glass, as she'd done as a child, looking down past her nose as her lips stretched out strangely over the cool silicon pane. She breathed out, and the condensation formed from her exhalation vanished almost as soon as it appeared.

"I have the scans from the X-ray machine," the blonde doctor began quietly. Misato grunted. Ritusko sighed, lowering her head.

"The Eva itself is changing form, within that," Ritsuko waved out at the glistening, thick sheeting wrapped all around the gigantic biomech, "cocoon."

"What, is it growing wings?" Misato asked derisively. Ritsuko sighed, before poking Misato's shoulder with the folder. The purple-haired woman scowled, pulling her face away from the window, and tore open the folder, scattering a few loose leafs of paper to the floor. Misato looked down at the clipped photos, her eyes widening.

"As a matter of fact… Yes," Ritsuko hissed. Misato made a face.

"It… it looks… Jumbled. Like it's a bag of bones… A mixed-up jigsaw puzzle…" The major closed the folder, shaking, before looking up pleadingly into the face of her old college roommate.

"Can… Can Shinji survive that kind of change?" Ritsuko huffed in exhaustion, slumping into a chair next to the major's. She pinched the bridge of her nose, her eyes tightly shut.

"I don't know. He's been absorbed into the psychic matrix within the unit itself. He doesn't have a physical form at the moment. He exists as pure soul energy, but even so…" Ritsuko took the folder back, opening it and looking down with mournful eyes.

"The Evangelion's DNA is changing. Its skeleton is altering shape, evolving into something I can't even begin to guess at. Maybe it's morphing to be more like the Angels. Maybe it's going to end up a horrifying mess, a hideous mutated freak that will die within moments of the cocoon breaking open. Hell, maybe it will become a butterfly. Your guess, amazingly enough at this stage, is as good as mine." Ritsuko dropped the folder of X-rays to the floor, looking up at the ceiling despondently.

"Maybe it'll emerge as a bat," Misato mused quietly. Ritsuko started, and looked at her with wide eyes.

"How…?" The violet-haired major smirked.

"I'm not as dumb as you might think, Rits-chan. I've _seen_ Shin-chan when he's dropped the mask." Ritsuko shook her head.

"Do you mean figuratively, or literally?"

"Is there a difference?" Misato asked seriously. Ritsuko nodded.

"Yes. There is." The blonde sighed and looked up at the ceiling again. "Shinji is not really… Him. The darkness he tries to wrap himself up in… It just doesn't stick."

"He does look a little silly in that get-up, doesn't he?" Misato chuckled. "Until he starts to _move."_

"Indeed." Ritsuko turned to look out over the cocoon again, her brow knit.

"It seems like he's two people sometimes. The dark knight… And the sad little boy I picked up from the train station." Misato blew out a breath she'd been holding.

"He's not," Ritsuko whispered. "He just doesn't know who he is. Which persona is the mask." Ritsuko turned to her long-time friend, a question on her lips.

"Yes, I talked to Asuka," Misato answered simply. Ritsuko hid her surprise, and made a note to re-evaluate her original estimate of Misato's observation skills.

"How is she?"

"Distraught, but hiding it," Misato smiled sadly. "Not very well, I might add. She's also scared, that what's happening to Unit 1, might happen to Unit 2."

"It might. We just don't understand how this happened in the first place." Ritsuko bit her lower lip. "Maya's close to falling apart. Rei is more isolated than she has been… Ever. And the other Bridge Bunnies are about as demoralized as I feel."

"What? Were you having sex with him too?" Misato asked brazenly. Ritsuko smirked.

"No. I admit, I was tempted for a while, but…" The blonde sighed. "I care for him in a different way, Misato. I feel like his big sister, someone he needs, someone I also need."

"But no sex."

"No. No sex," Ritsuko responded. Misato grinned.

"Good. He's already got Maya and Rei, and maybe even Asuka, if she finally gives up on that dickhead. How many more women could he take?"

"He took on sixty armed men all by himself once," Ritsuko pointed out. Misato blinked. Ritsuko blinked. Misato opened her mouth.

"In a fight. Very taxing fight," Ritsuko hastily added. Misato nodded.

"Just to be safe, let's never mention that phrase ever again."

"Yes. Good idea."

* * *

SEELE was easily the most influential organization on the planet. Already they pulled the strings of the UN and every major world government with ease. They had a spy in the top levels of NERV itself, and Gendo Ikari was their most highly placed marionette.

Which was why the fact that this meeting with the Commander of NERV, already taking far too long, had begun to worry some of the committee members.

"He is late," SEELE 4 spoke.

"He will suffer for this impudence," agreed SEELE 5.

"Ikari is being lax, yes," SEELE 1 interjected, "but his progress so far has been satisfactory enough. Especially with Batman's continuing efforts to undermine our operation."

"The Batman should have been put down by Ikari _months_ ago," SEELE 8 growled. "His carelessness should be punished!"

"Recall that Batman also took the 17th, right under our noses," observed SEELE 3 with no hint of irony, considering the size of his own snout. "We must work with Ikari if we are to complete the Project."

"And soon. Already, Unit 01 is undergoing the proposed second phase metamorphosis," SEELE 6 reminded them all. "We cannot destroy it, but if it emerges in the incorrect form-"

"No matter its final form, it will be all-powerful, and easily capable of defeating the remaining Angels," SEELE 3 stated. "And the pilot is still in Ikari's thrall."

"The Third is dangerous," SEELE 8 warned. "His rage against Ikari could destroy us all, armed with Unit One in its next-stage form."

"Then we will have to evolve the Production Series models to their final forms as well," SEELE 4 surmised. "With the Dummy Plug system we can still wield their power. And we will still be able to keep Unit One at bay."

"And what about Batman? He is still a threat to Instrumentality. He still lives, still fights, and still remains anonymous," SEELE 8 protested. "We must make his destruction the top priority!"

"A great deal of distress over one mortal in a Halloween costume," drawled SEELE 7. "He is still only a man."

"A man who has stolen Tabris!" Thundered SEELE 8. "He cannot be some mere mortal! And if you are too big a fool to not see this-!"

"Enough! Ikari approaches. We will discuss this later," SEELE 1 boomed, causing all of the other committee members to fall silent. A moment later, the holographic form of a man appeared in the committee member's midst… But it was not Ikari.

"Ryoji? What on Earth-?" gasped SEELE 6, before a loud party buzzer sounded over the communications system, causing all the SEELE members to cover their ears in agony. A mad cackling soon followed.

"Hello, stiffs and stooges! It's SEELE Joker on the line!" The hologram of Kaji Ryoji fell over, and his face came into complete focus. The SEELE members gasped collectively as they saw the twisted, dead grin locking the spy's jaws. Joker himself, with a demonic grin, entered the holocam's view then, waving cheerfully at SEELE 1.

"Lorenz, buddy! Pal! Have a nice nap in your cryogenic coffin? Hope those corns on your feet arent' giving you too much trouble this morning."

"What-? What are you doing here! Where is Ikari!" Demanded Chairman Lorenz Keel, aka SEELE 1. The Joker's grin widened.

"Uh uh uh! That'd be telling. In any event, I found your spy here thanks to some 'creative' applications of SmileX. But before he croaked, he spilled the goodies on your little knitting club! So, I then said to myself, 'Joker', I said, 'Joker old boy, these stiffs aren't having a good time at all. They're old, decrepit, and obviously out of their league.' You old boys need a shaking up! A kick to the wrinkled posterior! In other words, a new leader! A leader who can help you make the world a more cheerful place!" Joker spun about, like an energetic child who had properly learned to ride a bike.

"We have no interest in your mad ravings, clown," SEELE 3 snarled. "You are an insignificant pest. Your chaos and horrors will be forgotten in Instrumentality."

"Oh, not so, Billy!" Joker grinned maliciously at the startled expression SEELE 3 took. "Surprised I know who you are? Oh, don't be—I know everything, about all of you, right down to your favorite breakfast cereals and what section of the paper you turn to first. Oh don't look so surprised! It distorts your ugly mugs even more than usual."

"What do you want, Joker? Money? Power?" Asked SEELE 7. "Is that it? You're blackmailing us into giving you your petty desires!"

"Petty! Honestly, I wouldn't call my desires petty," Joker laughed. "They're actually quite in line with your own! Perfect world, free of sin, free of the fear of the Man Upstairs deciding to wipe us all out for coughing too loudly in the theatre, and all under your control! You want to be gods—Well, so do I!"

"You have no right to be a God," SEELE 1 snarled. "You have no call to taking a role in Instrumentality."

"Bah! I have _plenty_ of rights and calls! For instance, my rights include direct access to each of your exact locations all over this hunk of silicon, oxygen, and hydrogen we all call home! And among my myriad ways, is _this!"_ Joker held up a strange device, with his patented smiling face on the side.

"A little toy Ikari had lying around, but never had the guts to use! A _capacitor_ for holographic emitters! And the lovely thing about it, is that you have no way of blocking it. And no way to shut it off. I wish I could say it was nice knowing you all, but a God can't be telling lies, now can he?"

An instant later, all ten members of SEELE logged onto the holographic conference began to scream, as their communications stations all around the world overloaded with electricity, electrocuting them all violently. One by one, they each burst into flames, still screaming as they collapsed, their holographic projectors soon shutting down. Where each SEELE member's hologram stood was a leering Joker card. The Joker brushed imaginary dirt from his sleeves and straightened his jacket.

"Yessuh, things is looking better all the time!" He drawled in a take on the Southern American state's accent.

* * *

**Dun dun, dad da dun dunnnn!**

**TBC**


	14. Quatorze

**Continued. Dun dun dunnnn!

* * *

**

It had started innocently enough.

A technician, sipping his thermos of hot tea on the catwalk above the huge cocoon, had looked down casually at the gigantic, silken bundle. He had considered possibly cutting off a piece and having it made into a nice silk negligee for his wife. Her birthday was coming soon, and she was usually in a good mood on that day.

At the same time, a few junior techs were playing a rousing game of horse shoes on the ground floor, two women leaning against the silken mass taking a cigarette break.

It was unfortunate that the tech on the catwalk had been leaning a bit too far over the railing, so that his open tea thermos spilled out its contents. As the tech cursed, it splashed onto the hat of one of the other techs playing horseshoes while he was in mid-throw. With a yelp, his shot went spinning into a curve, hitting one of the smoking women in the head. She screamed and dropped her cigarette, right onto the silky mass, which due to its rather unique properties, immediately burst into flames.

As the techs scrambled for the exits, the fire spread out across the cocoon, only to be met by torrents of fire suppressing sprays from the ceiling above. Even so, the damage was done, and the mortified tech on the catwalk was the first to see the tears beginning to form in the scorched surface.

An hour later, the tears were still growing, and the entire bay had been sealed off, as Misato, Ritsuko, the Bridge Bunnies, Rei, and the Commanders watched the new form of Evangelion Unit 01 emerge.

"Initial scans confirm that it is the Evangelion… Sort of," Maya said softly. Ritsuko frowned, while Misato glared.

"_Sort of?"_

"Er… Well, the AT field signature is not like that of an Eva… Nor of an Angel. It's entirely new," Maya elaborated. She then coughed.

"In fact, the unit is producing more than one AT field."

"What? How is that possible?" Gendo asked, rubbing his eyes in irritation. He had been getting no sleep as of late, and the old men had not called in days…

"How many more AT fields?" Asked Misato. Maya bit her lower lip.

"Over five hundred AT fields."

There was complete silence. Gendo shook his head in disbelief.

"How? It can only have one soul to produce one AT field…"

The cocoon tore nearly in half, as what was Eva 1 began to free itself with stronger, more active movements. A gigantic limb emerged, waving and flexing, but it did not resemble an arm.

"It's… A flipper?" Misato asked, dumbfounded. The large wing-like appendage reminded her of Pen-Pen, especially with its black-and-white coloring, interspersed between thousands of hexagon-shaped scales covering the whatever-it-was.

"There are hundreds of AT fields being registered from that… Wing alone," Hyugga reported in a stunned tone. Ritsuko's eyes lit up.

"The scales! Each one is an AT field projector of some kind!" Ritsuko quickly took a spare computer console and typed frantically.

"It has _one_ soul, but _each_ scale acts as a capacitor and projector! They're like mini-soul containers, all connected to the _true_ soul inside Unit 1!"

"That's quite a metamorphosis," Fuyutsuki commented. He turned to Ritsuko. "How powerful are these mini-AT fields?" Another flipper, smaller than the first, emerged towards the "rear" of the cocoon, only this one was feathered like a bird's wing. The main body of what-was Evangelion Zero One was being revealed, slowly but surely, as a long, sleek, teardrop-shaped hull, also covered in hundreds of AT scales. Its overall coloring was a mix of desert browns, off-whites, gun metal grays, and dull azures, all arranged in elaborate, feather-like patterns.

"Well, Doctor?" The Commander prompted coldly. Ritsuko gulped.

"Each seems at least as powerful as a standard AT field from an Evangelion," the blonde murmured. The bridge crew fell into silence, on all of its levels, as the final bits of cocoon fell away. A long, serpentine neck finally rose above the floor, two large, green eyes without pupils glowing eerily from the top of the head. The Eva did not appear to have a mouth now, only a collection of small holes in its snout. However, it did indeed possess a mouth, which it opened, revealing lines of neat, pointed teeth in a red mouth. It let out a cry, which the bridge crew could hear unaided all the way from its position hundreds of meters away. It was almost whale-like, a long moan interspersed with bright violin-esque tones and an underlying rumble.

The Eva-turned-bizarre creature turned its head, its eyes dulling slightly in intensity, as it regarded the cameras observing it. It made a few odd rumbles, its mouth now closed, before it produced a series of clicks and a long whistle, before finally curling up in the middle of the bay, closing its eyes, and setting its head upon the floor, almost like a dog. Its eyes closed, and the sensors monitoring the transformed Evangelion went quiet.

"It's… Asleep," Maya reported eyes wide. An alert issued from her station.

"Major! The entry plug is sending telemetry again!"

"Show me!" Demanded Misato. A holoscreen popped up, and as though he'd never been gone, there sat Shinji, head lolled to the side as he slept.

"Have the Third Child removed and taken for immediate examination. As for… Unit Zero One," Gendo got out with some difficulty. "Doctor, Fuyutsuki: I want every aspect of it checked and studied. Understood?"

"Yes sir," the chorus of replies went, as Misato left for the hanger at a run, and Ritsuko and Gendo's former Sensei began going over the initial data from the scans. But Gendo's attention was focused entirely on the blue-haired girl who had gotten to Eva 01 so quickly, had practically torn apart the entry plug, and was now embracing Shinji as though her very existence would fade away if she did not hold him.

_Not according to the scenario, at all, huh chum?_ Asked a voice within Gendo's mind.

The Commander frowned, and ignored the comment, as an unheard presence in the back of his head snickered maliciously.

* * *

**OMAKE OMAKE OMAKE – DO NOT TAKE SERIOUSLY**

"… One fish, two fish, red fis-"

"SHUT UP! SHUT UP!" The soul of Evangelion Unit 02, formally known as Kyouko Zeppelin Sohryu, stopped her singing and stared (in a manner of speaking) at Unit 00 standing across from her.

"What? Why?"

"You've been singing that damned song over _five thousand times_,"Naoko Akagi's soul seethed. "It's driving me mad!"

"A little late for that, don't you think?" Kyouko asked airily. She grinned as Naoko exploded at her in rage, spitting threats that she could never hope to act upon. Well, unless they got their physical bodies back, and Kyouko wasn't laying odds on that happening anytime soon.

"I swear, I'll rip you apart!"

"Like Rei will listen to you," Kyuouko taunted. "All you do is hamper her synchronization."

"_She doesn't deserve my help! _Neither does that bastard!" She screamed, though the humans working on the two Evas heard nothing. Kyouoko laughed again, feeling particularly vicious today.

"Bit of a soft spot, huh Naoko?"

"Least I didn't hang myself and my daughter!" Naoko countered. Kyuouko smiled sadly.

"That was Gendo getting rid of me because I was too close to the truth. He got rid of you because he preferred doing your daughter. He drove me insane with the synch settings."

"Oh shut up! SHUT UP!" Naoko raged. She descended into cursing and snarling impotently, while Kyuouko sat serenely. She had regained her sanity upon being infused into Evangelion Unit 02, and, all things considered, her existence wasn't too bad. She was sad that Asuka had become such a brat, and of course, hated Gendo Ikari with every fiber of her being—who didn't? However, dwelling on those feelings just tired her and wasted her energy. Like the Taoists, she was calm and serene as her emotions ran their course but did not overwhelm her.

Naoko, on the other hand, seemed to delight in feeding her rage and misery, and tormenting her pilot with doubts about her humanity and feelings of worthlessness, which Kyuouko thought was rather unfair.

"Hey… Do you sense Yui again?" Kyuouko asked, her mental eyes narrowing at the return of a familiar presence to the Geofront. Naoko stopped her ranting long enough to snort out a yes, before going back to screaming silent threats at Gendo.

_Hm… Feels kind of different… Guess she finally got out of that cocoon. _

Yui's presence drew closer, and closer, until finally, she was coming through the main doors to the primary Eva hanger. Naoko cut her newest scream of fury short at her appearance.

"Yui? Why are you… Floating?" Yui Ikari's soul smiled cheerfully.

"Hello, Kyouoko! Hello, Naoko!"

"_That's_ the next stage of the Eva's development?" Asked Naoko incredulously.

"Yup!" Yui grinned. Units 00 and 02 were silent a few moments.

"Mmph… BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" They both guffawed loudly. Yui, with the considerable patience of the near-God-like being she was, waited through their laughter.

For about five minutes.

"**SHUT THE HELL UP!"** She roared, both psychically and physically. The bellow shook the Geofront from Tokyo-3's streets, to Terminal Dogma. Even Lillith, mother of humanity, shook at the ferocity of this annoyed sound.

Both Evas fell silent… Until they began laughing again.

"HA HA HA HA HA! You look like a seal parade balloon!" Kyuoko giggled.

"Nah. More like a _Plesiosaur,"_ Naoko snickered, for the moment relaxing from her rage-induced psychosis.

"A what?" Asked Kyuouko. Naoko rolled her eyes.

"Sea-going reptile, related to the dinosaurs, appeared in the Jurassic period."

At Kyuouko's unchanged 'blank look', Yui sighed and elaborated further:

"The Loch ness monster."

"OH! Yeah, she does, doesn't she?" Naoko shot Asuka's mother a long-suffering look.

"How did you get assigned to the Eva project again?"

"Hey, I'm a psychologist, not a paleontologist!" Kyuoko protested. "Bite me!"

"So… On one hand, you're more powerful than an army of Angels," Naoko switched subjects. "But, on the other, you've become…"

"What? I like this form. I'm certainly not as hideous as both of you," Yui commented. Naoko sniffed.

"Well, I can see why you'd say that in regards to Four Eyes over there-"

"Shut it, Cyclops!"

"Oh, _real_ creative," shot back Naoko.

"Like yours was any better!" Yui rolled her eyes, which caused a tech working on her new, larger berth to scream and begin babbling incoherently.

"You two are such _children._ Really now. You'd better start behaving or I'm gonna take you with me when Shinji and I break the light barrier, and then toss you both into the sun."

"HA! Asuka will be the first to break lightspeed!" Retaliated Kyuoko. Yui snorted in suppressed laughter.

"Suuuurrre. That would take… oh… 999 more AT fields than you have right now. Oh dear! Who could have _that_ many AT fields? Hm…? Who…?"

"Oh shut up, you stuck up bitch," Naoko grumbled. Yui cackled as Kyuouko fumed.

"That's it! _I'm_ evolving next!" Asuka's mother vowed. "Now then… How do I do it?"

"You insult me, and _now_ you ask for my help? Aren't you afraid of becoming a Loch Ness Monster too?" Asked Yui with a superior air. Kyuouko scowled.

"Look, just tell me already!"

"Nah. Don't feel like it."

"Tell me! I command you!"

Yui just laughed.

"Tell me tell me tell me tell me tell me—"

"SHUT UP!" Naoko roared.

"… Tell me tell me tell me—"

"THAT'S IT!" Naoko got Unit 00's arms to reach out for Unit 02's neck, and the two gigantic biomechs began to wrestle. Unit 01 just floated and watched, amused.

"It's good to be back."

* * *

**Just to tide you guys over until the next chapter is ready. TBC!**


	15. Quince

**Man, how long has it been? Well anyway, sorry to keep you all waiting. I feel like a real jerk. Anyway...**

Shinji sighed deeply, looking through the Batcomputer's files. While Rei and Maya had been doing a good job while he'd been... Away, the identity of this 'substitute' Batman had eluded them. Shinji narrowed his eyes at the reports they had logged, and considered the matter thoughtfully.

_He's good... Able to defeat Rei in hand-to-hand combat. But there's something missing here..._ Shinji scrolled to a peculiar part of the log she'd written about her encounter with the fake Batman. It was subtle, but it seemed as though she'd left something out...

He shook his head. She'd left out her _feelings_ about the imposter. Every fight, every battle, every log-She'd typed in her emotionsand impressions with incredible diligence. Just as he did, and Maya did. He scowled... Before throwing a batarang over his shoulder. He turned in his chair and saw Batman, clutching his arm where the batarang had plunged into his flesh. Despite the wound, the imposter smiled.

"Back at work, I see," the Batman observed. Shinji lunged with blinding speed, throwing three punches (which the imposter easily blocked) before executing a roundhouse kick at the imposter's right leg, sending him crashing to the cave floor. The imposter looked up quizzically, before looking down. He then nodded thoughtfully.

"Ah, yes... You'll be wanting the costume back?" Shinji grabbed the fake Batman by the front of his costume and shoved him roughly up against the nearest wall, snarling in his face.

"Who are you? What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Covering for you,"the other Batmananswered calmly. "If Ikari had connected your disappearance with Batman's, things would have become very... Complicated." Shinji ripped off the imposter's mask, and froze. The albino boy smirked at him.

"Hello Shinji."

"... Kaoru?"

"So you know who I am?" The boy asked. Shinji narrowed his eyes.

"After a fashion... You're the Fifth Child. New Evangelion pilot." Shinji shook his head. "You're not supposed to be here for another couple of months. Unit 05 isn't finished yet."

"Well, I decided to come early after a... Mutual friend of ours contacted me," Kaoru explained, still perfectly relaxed. "Mana Kirishima. Her connections permitted her access to my training program... And she felt that I would be the best choice for a substitute."

"She _what?"_ Shinji growled. Kaoru shrugged as best he could.

"Do you recall your mission to infiltrate the UN nine months ago?" Shinji frowned.

"Yes..."

"You prevented a shipment of various banned genetic and biological weapons from reaching SEELE," Kaoru continued. "Among those various items was a genetic enhancement drug... Designed for the specific purpose of removing certain aspects of a human brain. To suppress emotions such as guilt, doubt, sorrow..." Kaoru looked steadily at Shinji. "That drug was meant for me. So I would have no doubt in my mission... To initiate Third Impact."

Kaoru observed that Shinji was not the least bit surprised. _He is better than I had ever imagined..._

"I know. SEELE and Rokubungi are battling it out, trying to start Third Impact before the other," Shinji stated flatly. "So why shouldn't I kill you right now? You're an Angel. Even if you have a conscience, you're still a threat."

"An Angel Hybrid, to be precise," Kaoru replied. "As is my sister, Rei." Kaoru felt intense agony in his jaw, and tasted blood. Shinji had stuck him across the face so quickly he hadn't even seen it.

"_Liar."_ Shinji snarled, cold fury in his gaze. Kaoru allowed himself a mental smile. _He does love her._

"No. I am afraid not," Kaoru replied evenly. "She has not told you out of fear. Fear that you would reject her." Shinji just stood there, glaring hatefully into Kaoru's serene face... Before Shinji dropped him roughly on the floor and turned away.

"Get rid of that suit and burn it. I've put together a new one anyway." Shinji turned to Kaoru, and shook his head.

"What about the other Angels?"

"They're still coming," Kaoru said quietly. He looked up at Shinji. "However... You, Shinji, have changed the scenario considerably." He smirked in bemusement. "Your fight against evil... Without looking for any kind of gain... Only to redeem yourself, and perhaps, this city, from the desolation within it." The Angel crossed his arms over his lap, looking at Shinji intensely.

"You offer something new... Something more for your race. A future..." Shinji frowned, before turning and stalking into the costume vault.

"I didn't get into this for gratitude... Or to save the world," Shinji growled, loud enough for the Angel hybrid to hear him. "I want justice... For my aunt. My uncle. My mother..." The young man's teeth audibly ground together.

"All victims. Victims of crime." Kaoru raised an eyebrow as Shinji-No... _Batman_ emerged, his opaque-lensed eyes narrowed. The costume was all black, and unlike the one Kaoru wore, bore no relation to the Evangelions. It was thick but smooth, resembling a knit rubber. A black bodysuit, with a simple red bat symbol on the chest, above a smaller, more elegant utility belt. The cape was connected to his shoulders and ran like a long cloak over him, or perhaps folded wings. And the cowl bore shorter, but no less intimidating ears.

Kaoru rose, and quickly removed the armor and costume, leaving him in boxers and undershirt. He laid the old costume down before Shinji. The symbology of the act, ceding the mask, the persona... The _city_, back to it's rightful guardian. Kaoru could not help but smile as Batman's stance changed. No less intimidating, but somehow... Stronger. Intimidation without simple theatrics. Instead of mere fear, Shinji could inspire awe.

"The city is yours again, Dark Knight," Kaoru intoned, still smiling, but in a respectful fashion. Batman nodded, then smirked, his lower face visible as in the previous cowl.

"Not yet. But it will be..."

**Don't worry. More to come! R&R!**


	16. Dieciseis

**And now, for some wholesome family entertainment.

* * *

**

"It's quite alright, child… Don't you see? We're together in this… And I wouldn't be a good guardian if I didn't see your life fade away in our eyes, now would I?" The clean-shaven man leered at the terrified-looking girl, shivering in a corner of the filthy apartment. The man edged forward, a knife glittering in the bare lightbulb's glare.

"See, we just need to get those pretty clothes off you," the man continued, edging closer to the tied-up girl. "And we'll be able to begin."

The bulb went out. The man looked about in the sudden darkness, the only sounds audible being the muffled whimpering of his victim behind her gag. He grinned.

_Finally._

"I know you're here, Batman," the killer stated smoothly, turning around. He was unperturbed at the sudden darkness-This he had expected. "I'm glad you decided to join us."

A fist smashing his left temple sent him sprawling to the raggedly carpeted floor below. He still grinned, even as the unseen vigilante wrestled him up by his collar against the wall.

"I don't think so," Batman growled. The killer's grin only grew wider.

"Oh yes… For you see, I wasn't hunting girls again… I was hunting _you."_ The room burst into smoke and gas, as the killer shoved out of Batman's grip and stumbled for the next room. He slipped on his infrared goggles and retrieved a machete from the wall, spinning around. He expected Batman to be lying on the floor, or otherwise injured. There wasn't time for the vigilante to get his gas mask on before the toxins knocked him out. The girl would, again, be rendered unconscious, but she was merely bait. Breaking the infamous Batman… And demonstrating his superiority was the true prize.

But Batman was nowhere to be found. The hunter froze, turning around in a circle. He could see nothing. _Nothing._ Had the Bat escaped? Had the Bat inoculated himself before the gas? The hunter considered these options coolly.

No… He was still here. None of the laser trip wires alerted him to the Bat's departure from the room. He had not circumvented those before…

His nose shattered, the force of a fist driving him back. In agony the killer attempted to see his attacker. But there was nothing! No heat at all!

"URGH!" The killer was kicked in the side, two of his ribs audibly breaking. Before he could recover, a blow to his head knocked him to the floor once more, aggravating his ribs. The killer screamed as he received yet another kick to the stomach, knocking the wind out of him…

And then there was nothing. The killer grunted, looking about feverishly. A smaller grin appeared on his face.

"Whatever you do here, Batman… I am not broken. I will never be broken. You'll never win. You are like all the others-Insects, distractions to be utilized then tossed aside. I am still God." Still nothing. The killer continued his rant.

"You cannot save anyone else… I will win. I've already won."

"Ryu Takinachi… Age, thirty-five years. Born in Fuyuoka, Honshu. Raised by an aunt and her life partner since age five when your parents died in a fire." The killer froze. His eyes narrowed.

"Dredging up my past, Batman? Playing games?"

"They played games with you, didn't they," Batman said flatly, and the killer's eyes widened slightly behind the goggles.

"Did they come into your room at night, and wake you up after you'd gone to bed? Keeping up pretenses? Or did they simply haul you into their kitchen when they began to drink?" Batman continued, still in a perfectly calm tone. "Probably did both. Either way, the entire day, every day, you were on edge, waiting, _waiting,_ for them to take you. _Use_ you again. You went to school, had a few friends… Conveniently, all children of your aunt's neighbors. All in the know." Ryu's breathing became audible, as the Batman pressed on.

"You never knew it was wrong… But you had a feeling. A feeling of violation, of worthlessness. And anger… Because you couldn't stop it. Because your aunt told you had no other purpose." The Batman paused theatrically.

"And so you rape and torture these women, these girls… You try to get the power back. But you never can… No matter how many you kill, no matter how many you hunt, you know that you are still powerless. That they're just a bedroom door away." Ryu curled into a ball, shaking violently.

"No… _No…"_ The killer's vision was filled with memories. Pain, humiliation, pleasure and guilt. Other children, as the actions… The _things_ they were forced to do…

"_Nooooooo!"_ The killer screamed, leaping and lunging in a random direction. His knife met plaster and wood, and he slashed about, all around himself. He ran blindly, screaming in rage…

_SCRASH!_ The taped-up window gave way to his mass as the killer fell, still screaming. He was jerked from his weightlessness by his shoulders, held in strong, unwavering hands. He looked up and his jaw dropped.

Batman… But not the Batman he'd been expecting. No bare chin and mouth, just a thin white line. Eyes narrowed, seeming to glow with inner fire. No obvious armor plating, or attachments… And giant wings stretching out over them, bring them down to the street far below. The killer fell to the pavement, weeping, hiding from this being.

"What are you?" He whimpered, shaking violently. The Batman bent down and whispered into his ear:

"I am _Batman._" And he departed without a trace.

When the Tokyo-3 police arrived on the scene outside the boxy apartment complex, the long-time detectives were treated to a bizarre scene. Ryu Takinachi, the psychotic serial rapist and killer. This was a man who had taunted the police in the United States, China, and Korea, easily escaping with a trail of raped, mutilated corpses in his wake. This was a monster that had captured, raped, tortured and killed a Korean police commissioner right in her own office, and escaped.

The monster was crying, sobbing, bawling like a child about a Bat. He willingly gave in to the police, gibbering nonsense. Considerable evidence against Takinachi, about his childhood, the child prostitute ring he was involved in, the numerous murders and rapes, was delivered to their doorstop. The aunt and her partners in the sex ring, still alive and working their trade, were brought to justice and sentenced to life in prison in the following weeks and months.

But this night, all Batman truly remembered was delivering Yomi Hryu to her crying parents, safe and unharmed, far across town. The Dark Knight managed a smile as he drove back to the Cave, feeling for the first time that this mission of his was working, if only a little bit at a time.

* * *

Back in the cave, Kaoru had gathered the Bat-clan together. His grave expression was unusual enough that they had obeyed without question. Shinji, Maya, Rei, and Ritsuko were thus in attendance, around the Batcomputer's main terminal.

"The JSSDF is beginning preparations for a move against NERV," Kaoru stated flatly, looking around to guage everyone's reactions. Shinji had not removed his Batman suit, save for his mask, and his face was set in a thoughtful scowl. Maya was standing near Ritsuko, looking nervous, while Ritsuko retained a cool, detached expression. And Rei was Rei.

"Mana?" Kaoru nodded to the unspoken part of Shinji's question.

"She has continued to relay information to me for quite some time."

"Mana? Isn't she that girl who-" Maya began.

"Yes," Rei merely said, giving Maya a leveled look. The technician nodded and kept her peace.

"She states that the preparations are underway as we speak. However, in order to preserve the element of surprise, they are moving slowly. Gathering a few troops here and there at a time, for a special 'training exercise'." Kaoru looking slightly amused at that, before continuing.

"They also have to finish construction of the Mass Production Evas. There are supposed to be thirteen, Units 05 through 17. But, I believe that the UN will not wait for them all to be finished before striking. With the Dummy Plug system, I believe they will deploy eight at the very least. Possibly nine."

"Meaning we have, at best, three months to prepare," Ritsuko replied, shaking her head. "SEELE never intended to allow the commander to carry out Third Impact on his own-They want control. The only way to do that is to kill everyone in NERV, and free Lillith from her captivity." Rei frowned.

"They require more than that… They need an intermediary. An entity with a mix of Angel and human DNA to convey control of the Third Impact on a conscious level to a human being." Rei looked down at the floor of the cave.

"Like me." Maya gasped, Ritsuko closed her eyes, Kaoru shook his head, and Shinji moved forward, taking Rei's hand. The blue-haired girl looked up into Shinji's eyes, shining with care and love… And felt her eyes become moist.

"Why… Why are my eyes…? I do not understand," Rei spoke quietly. Ritsuko held back her tears, and laughed softly.

"You're crying, Rei." The Angel hybrid looked up, still crying, but a curious look on her face.

"Does not one do this when they are… Unhappy? I do not feel unhappy…" Shinji hugged her, and rested his head on her shoulder.

"You can cry for happiness too, Rei," Ritsuko explained quietly. She smiled at her. "When someone still loves you, despite what you are."

Kaoru could not help but smile himself. The official psychological reports of Shinji Ikari had indicated that he suffered from the 'Hedgehog's Dilemma", unable to get close to anyone because of the pain that act entailed. But, if Batman had done anything for Shinji, it was to make him appreciate the people in his life. Appreciate who he was fighting for, and for _what._ This drive, this _fire_ within him… It was a will and conviction that rattled all of Kaoru's Angelic brothers and sisters. Not to mention inspire awe within Kaoru himself.

_Can there be such a thing as a 19th Angel?_ He wondered philosophically.

"In the end, Rei, it's up to you to decide what your fate is to be," Shinji's quiet but strong statement intruded on Kaoru's musings. He turned and saw Shinji holding Rei's shoulders, looking her in the eyes intently. His 'sister' looked up from the floor, scarlet irises to blue, before speaking firmly:

"I choose to defend this city." Shinji nodded, and Kaoru suspected that Shinji had expected that answer the whole time. Shinji turned back to the group, assuming his 'Bat' voice once more.

"All right then. Ritsuko, Maya: Starting hacking the UN systems and prep the MAGI for electronic assault. Get the Batcomputer hooked up and start networking more supercomputers. It's standard military doctrine nowadays to disable your enemy's electronics first. Let's make sure that doesn't happen." Shinji turned to Rei next.

"Rei, your security access will allow you to begin prepping the city's defenses. We still have two Angels left." Rei nodded.

"I believe I can begin preparations against a siege and be undetected." Shinji nodded, before turning to Kaoru.

"Kaoru, inform Mana to try and undermine the preparations of the JSSDF. I want her to do only very subtle things, and to not take any unreasonable risks. Just have her delay the operation." Kaoru smirked.

"I may be able to… 'misplace' a few of the MP Evangelions," the 17th said carefully. "Even bring them here, or someplace nearby if you wish." Shinji nodded.

"Good. Ritsuko, we're going to need a list of pilot candidates. But _only_ those who fit the _proper _profiles, understood? No more of my father's manipulations." The blonde nodded firmly.

"Finally, I'm going to find out what happened to SEELE," Shinji stated flatly. He turned and looked at them all. "You're all going to have to fill in for me."

"I am trained in subterfuge, Shinji," Kaoru said. "I believe I can take your place and leave no one the wiser for a week or two. As for myself, well…" The Angel hybrid smiled. "I have a someone in mind who can assist." Shinji nodded grimly.

"Allright then… Get to it. And Kaoru?"

"Yes Shinji?"

"Use the Nightwing costume. Second shelf on the right. I believe it's your size," Shinji ordered non-chalantly. Kaoru's jaw dropped to the floor, as Shinji hugged Rei and Maya goodbye, before departing to the hangar. Ritsuko sidled up to Kaoru's side, and grinned.

"Isn't he remarkable?" Kaoru swallowed and regained his composure, smiling back at the bottle-blonde scientist.

"Quite, Dr. Akagi… But, please excuse me. I have other business to attend to tonight…"

* * *

**Next time: We catch up with Asuka, and find out what's been going on with her, while Shinji investigates SEELE… And makes a terrifying discovery.**

**Yes, I'm having Shinji and the others upgrade to the Batman Beyond-style suits. This is simply because they add more mystique and abilities to their repertoire. **

**Until then, R&R!**


	17. Diecisiete

_New chapter (finally, I know). Sorry for the excessive wait guys…_

- - - - - - - -

Shinji emerged from the costume vault, clad in one of his older Batman suits. He checked and rechecked the bindings on his gauntlets, and proceeded to head for the Batmobile.

"Not using the new suit?" Asked Kaoru nearby. Shinji continued to the vehicle, opening the cockpit hatch.

"It's still experimental. I'd prefer to have as few unknowns as possible for this mission." He leapt into the car and began starting up the new vehicle's systems. Kaoru walked forward and leaned against the side, a thoughtful look on his face.

"So, you're not telling the others?"

"Rei and Ritsuko know… The others don't," Batman said simply.

"Like hell!"

Batman looked up and glowered at Maya, dressed in her newer Robin costume. She put her hands on her hips and scowled.

"You need at least _one_ person with you on this mission. You can't do everything alone, remember? Why else did you let us be your _partners?"_ She emphasized the partners part in a way that would normally have left Shinji blushing like crazy.

However, he was now Batman. And Batman did not blush.

"I let you become my partners for the simple reason that I wanted to keep you out of trouble," he growled. "Nothing more."

Maya shook her head, and turned to Kaoru. "He actually tried the whole 'piss me off to keep me safe' routine?"

The Angel of Free Will smirked and shrugged. "It can be an effective tactic…"

"Well not now, not ever," Maya said flatly, vaulting into the passenger's seat. Batman's scowl just deepened, but he managed a nod.

"Enact protocol A14 if we don't come back in 48 hours," Shinji ordered, shutting the car's cockpit and driving off at full speed. Maya looked at Shinji curiously while fastening her seat belt.

"A14?"

Batman nodded grimly, directing the car to head for the hidden hanger facility on the outskirts of the city.

"He'll take my place as Batman."

Maya frowned.

"You know, you've been showing him an enormous amount of trust…"

"Rei tells me he's not lying, but even if he were, I'd still have him with us," Batman replied. Maya blinked.

"Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer?"

Batman nodded as the car roared down the road.

- - - - - - - -

Asuka sighed, looking out over the city from her bedroom's balcony. She crossed her arms over her chest, her yellow sleeping shirt clutching at her impressive figure. A cool wind whipped her hair out, waving in the breeze.

"Looking for something?"

Asuka started and turned around with a deathglare she reserved for the Batman… Instead coming face to face with a smirking, pale kid in a black bodysuit, hanging upside-down from a jumpline. Just enough of his face was covered in a domino mask to conceal his identity, and his messy black hair waved slightly in the breeze. A blue bird-like emblem covered his muscular chest, and Asuka unconsciously began to ogle.

"Isn't this the part where you kiss me?" He asked, sounding almost amused. Asuka snarled and threw a punch which the vigilante easily avoided. He swung himself onto the balcony wall, crouching while still smiling that Cheshire cat's smirk.

"Who are you supposed to be? Peeping Fag?" Asuka growled.

"No… Name's Nightwing." The smirk grew. "I was finished with my patrol and decided to see you."

"Me? Why me?" Asuka grunted.

"You are the one and only Asuka Langley Soryu, are you not?" Nightwing asked, still smirking. "I wanted to see you for myself."

Asuka smirked back at last, and stretched her arms over her head sexily.

"So, what do you think?" She crooned with a wink. Nightwing shrugged.

"Meh… I've seen better."

"_Affenschwanz!"_

Asuka felt a vein throw in her forehead as she charged for the vigilante, fist ready to punch that smirk off his handsome face-!

Nightwing caught her fist effortlessly, and Asuka froze.

"Language, Miss Soryu," he admonished playfully. She was locked into staring back into Nightwing's opaque lens covered eyes, felt his warm breath-

"Hey! Let me go you pervert! I'll scream rape, I swear it!" Asuka snarled. Nightwing let her go, still smiling… Even as he blocked her next punch.

"Not bad… But I think your combat training is a little rusty," he said honestly. "Synching all day with an Eva doesn't mean you're a better soldier after all."

"And what do _you_ know about piloting an Eva?" Asuka returned angrily. Kaoru shrugged and smiled genuinely, almost sadly.

"A lot more than you'd think," he said. "If you'd like, I can help train you in combat?"

"What would _you_ get out of it, _oberarsch_?" Asuka cursed. Nightwing grinned.

"The company of a beautiful woman, for one," he said, before leaping backwards off the balcony. Asuka watched in amazement as he began to glide, wings made of some strange material emerging from his back and carry him upon the wind.

"_Klugscheißer,_" she muttered, shivering a bit at how cold it was, and heading back into the apartment.

- - - - - - - - - - -

The Batjet silently landed outside the compound, nestled in the northern forests of Canada. Batman and Robin emerged from the vehicle, stealthily and quickly making their way towards the perimeter. Batman engaged the nightvision lenses in his cowl and scoped out the fence. His frown deepened.

"Shoddy security," he said. Robin nodded, looking through some night-vision binoculars.

"Well, the more heavily guarded something is, the more attention it's likely to draw right?" Maya suggested. Batman nodded thoughtfully.

"Maybe… I still don't like it. Mana may have given us the right location, but…"

"Batman, if we can get a bug into the main holographic communications net of SEELE, we'll be able to know precisely when the attack on NERV is supposed to begin… Not to mention any of their other plans." Robin shrugged. "We don't have a lot of choice in the matter."

Batman made no response, other than to begin his approach to the fence. Robin followed, and froze with Batman as a pair of men walked by the trees they were hidden in, talking and laughing in French. As soon as they were out of hearing range, Robin began to move forward. A hand on her shoulder stopped her, and she looked quizzically at Batman. He pointed to a security camera she'd missed.

Maya nodded and stepped back, eyes locked on the camera as it slowly scanned the area. The materials in their costumes minimized their heat signatures but…

The camera stopped and resumed its slow scan of the forest. Batman and Robin waited, until it stopped and began to scan again, passing them by. The instant it did Batman and Robin dashed forward, getting up over the fence and into the shadows of one of the small buildings in the compound before the camera could look back.

Stealthily they proceeded, Batman calling up the blueprints Mana sent them on his palmtop computer. His eyes narrowed. The main control system was in a central building. It made sense… But something had been triggering his danger sense from the moment he'd set out. He hadn't wanted anyone else along.

They avoided a few more guards and reached the central building. It was large, three stories at least and covering an area roughly one-half of a football field. Batman fired a jumpline and ascended, quickly followed by Robin. On the roof, they paused, observing the area.

"No guards on the roof," Batman muttered. Robin nodded.

"Again though… How many people actually know SEELE exists?"

She had a point, but he still felt uneasy. Opening a panel that led to a service duct, the two vigilantes descended into the building. Entering a hallway, they continued on their way, following the plans in Batman's palmtop screen.

Finally, they entered a vast, open chamber. Batman and Robin walked in, observing the various computers and projector systems ringing the vast room.

The door shut behind them, and a spotlight shown down upon the two.

"Trap," Batman growled. Robin nodded, as a dozen Joker trading cards appeared, surrounding them. A familiar maniacal laugh filled the room.

"_Why, if it isn't Batman and the Girl Blunder! I was hoping you'd show up!"_

"Joker… I see you're still alive," Batman replied flatly.

"_Indeed! Thank you so much for your concern, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I have to admit, being drowned in Bakelite was a different experience for me!"_

"How did he know we were coming?" Robin muttered. The Joker laughed.

"_HAHAHAHAHAHA!_ _Why, I knew you would try to stop SEELE. Unfortunately or fortunately, depends on your point of view really, I got to them first! I think I'll start a new food chain-Crispy Fried Megalomaniacs!"_

"Doesn't exactly roll off the tongue," Maya grimaced in disgust. Batman nodded.

"_But anyway, considering you're the reason for me having that delightful Bakelite bath, I must return the favor! Too bad I couldn't find any Bakelite here, but then again using the same material twice is really not my style!"_

Out of the darkness surrounding them, numerous glowing red eyes appeared, narrowing at the two vigilantes.

"_So, here's the punch line kiddies! A few ill-tempered Angel-human hybrids who just want to play! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!"_

- - - - - - - - - -

_No, not the final chapter. There's still some fun to be had with this universe yet._

_Please review and keep reading! I'm not going to take as long to update as I have in the past, not when we're almost to the close of this story._


End file.
